One photo a day challenge: Day 52.

Today I really felt like I wanted to get outside. It was a beautiful day. Sunny. Relatively warm for the winter we have been having, especially lately.

The goal was to go out and create some photography out in nature. Find interesting subjects. Take advantage of a beautiful day. Enjoy nature.

Enjoy nature and hopefully come away with having created some beautiful images.

I had two different location in mind with two very different types of photography to occur at each location.

The Plan

Location one: The Chemung River. Head down to the trails along the river right in town. Photograph the scenery.

I wanted to create bright beautiful winter photography featuring the river and the trees in the valley as the river flows through town.

Location two: Mill Pond. Local birding groups that I am part of have been reporting a lot of bird activity at a local pond. All the usual subjects plus a few birds one is less likely to see.

I wanted to check out the bird action at the pond. Hopefully see and photograph some of the more uncommon birds. Enjoy the company of some of natures creatures.

The river scenery was beautiful. Bright blue skies. Gleaming white snow. A river that was half frozen and half flowing.

Down at the pond I was fortunate enough to see a wide variety of birds. Crows, Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Merganser, American Black Duck, Ring-Billed Duck, and Red Head.

The sun was low in the sky and the lighting was beautiful. I was so distracted by the beauty of the ducks I was not as mindful of the light needed for my camera and a decent shutter speed. I took a bunch of photos, but not as many turned out as sharp as I would have liked.

The most interesting photo I created was in a series with this female mallard. The mallard was preening. Its head turned upside down. Head just touching the water. The reflection mirrored in the water connections the head of the mallard to the reflection.

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