Ring-necked Duck Drake in Golden Light

An ethereal fog covered the duck ponds during the coldest morning of my recent Better than Bosque Workshop. The fog thinned as the sun rose, and the warm light on the windless morning made for some great images.

Ring-necked Duck Drake in Golden Light (Aythya collaris, Fuligule à collier, RNDU) from my Better than Bosque workshop. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha Alpha 9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 5,000, f/8 @ 1/5,000s. Manual exposure.

Ring-necked Duck Drake

“Ring-billed Duck” may be a better name for this species, as its neck ring is usually only visible at close range. The white ring on the bill is a prominent field mark.

Ring-necked Duck with visible neck ring (Aythya collaris, Fuligule à collier, RNDU) from my Better than Bosque workshop. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha alpha 1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 1,600, f/8 @ 1/3,200s. Full frame image. Manual exposure.

Ring-necked Duck

Here is another duck from last December’s Best of Bosque Workshop. This is a drake (male) Ring-necked Duck on a liquid gold pond - smile!