A very lucky shot

[Blue_In_AK]

I went down to our local lake this evening just to take some night shots of the lights and moon reflected in the water, when to my surprise I spotted this lone swan and what I think are ducks (I hope they're not cygnets this late in the season) swimming around in this tiny patch of open water. Unfortunately, I didn't have the telephoto zoom lens, but managed to catch this shot with the 24-70. The light was so low, I had the ISO up to 1600 and still needed 1/2 sec. I had quite a bit of blur in several of the shots, but I think this one isn't too bad.

I love these times in early spring and late fall when the swans pass through here. They're so majestic.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It's gorgeous, my dear Blue!

Is that ice surrounding the open water?

The swan is lovely, and she stands out quite clearly.

Beautiful!

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Yes, it's ice.

Things are just starting to freeze up here, so there are still little patches of open water in most of the lakes and lagoons. When I first drove up here she was in the water, but then she got out and walked on the ice out toward the middle of the lake. I took some silhouette shots of her against the light, but pretty soon she came back to the water so I was able to get these better pictures. The trick was having her hold still long enough to get a clear shot. She was feeding, so she kept ducking her head down under the water. And the little ones were swimming around really fast; they're just blurs in some of the pictures.

[Solly Mack]

3. I like it!

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I just went back to check the swan in the daylight

and there are now four of them there. They're sleeping...I waited them out for quite a while, but they didn't move much. I'm going back in an hour or so after it warms up a bit more.