David vs Goliath, a photo from Aarhus, West

Photographer's Note

Taken at Mogens' favourite spot by the bridge. Usually, I'm too lazy to walk that far, but yesterday was sunny and warm, so we ambled around and eventually ended up down there. Right here the mallards and coots are much more used to humans than by our local pond, they even get onto dry land to collect the bread, so it was well worth the walk. Also because I saw a species I've never seen before - shame on me, because they're listed as "common"..

I don't know what triggered the argument, maybe Mr. Mallard made a pass at Mr. Moorhens wife ;-), or maybe he made a pass at his food or territory - my usual lookup page has the following on moorhens: "Common moorhen will guard his territory zealously. The males fight using their bills and feet, and the fight may be so violent, that one of them ends up with a broken leg".

Anyway, when I noticed the argument Mr. Moorhen was sitting on Mr. Mallard's back and giving him a sound beating (notice the worried look in Mr. Mallard's eye), which is rather impressive when taken into consideration the size difference between the two:
Common Moorhen (Gallinula Chloropus): Length: 27-31 cm, weight 250-350 gram, wingspan 50-55 cm
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos): Length: 50-60 cm, weight 900-1500 gram, wingspan 81-95 cm.

Eventually, Mr. Mallard got away from his agitated opponent and made it safely into calmer waters, and Mr. Moorhen made off to rejoin his wife. A little later I saw them cuddling in the water ;-)
Treatment: Crop, contrast +10, saturation +10, USM and resize.

AdrianW, Liora, Jeppe, starkey666, robbertjan, RobBrown, mogens-j, bullybeef53 ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

AdrianW (2274) 2004-03-31 10:31

LOL! I was going to rant about the sheer number of Mallard shots on this site at the moment, but your note is excellent, and the shot itself made me laugh, so instead I'll congratulate you on a job well done :-D

Ideally I think I'd have liked them slightly closer to the left hand edge, but I think you've done an amazing job just to capture it as it is! The background seems a bit noisy, what ISO were you shooting at?

Liora (1857) 2004-03-31 10:42

Very interesting scene... Mr. Mallard should send an immediate complaint to the pond's flight controller...
Once again, great timing! Well done!

wilkinsonsg (8662) 2004-03-31 10:56 [Comment]

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Didi (61589) 2004-03-31 11:15

Erreur de partenaire ?
C'est une situation comique, mais pas pour ce pauvre canard.
La scène est parfaitement cadrée, vous étiez présent au bon moment.
Il suffit d'avoir un minimum de patience pour obtenir de bons clichés.

Wrong partner ? It is a comic situation, but not for this poor duck. The scene is tallied perfectly, you were present at the good moment. It is enough to have a minimum of patience to obtain good pictures.

metint (7) 2004-03-31 11:17

You sure do have perfect timing. Congratulations, very good pic

Jeppe (18654) 2004-03-31 11:34

Wow - what a capture - :D) - I heard about those bad-tempered Mr. Moorhen but I never seen this kind of fight - no wonder mallard try to avoid - thanks for sharing this funny photo Bente.

pryan (77) 2004-03-31 11:50

Wow great picture I love the title. I don’t have any ideas to make this any better as with all your photos. I love the drops of water flying through the air, Great action shot, well done!

Motrem (2392) 2004-03-31 14:02

LOL! Your toys and your yard seems to say that angry. Beautiful scene here, it is funny because we do not risk knocks of beak. Very well made.

LOL! Tes jouets et ta cour semble dire celui en colère. Belle scène capturée ici, c'est amusant puisque nous ne risquons pas de coups de bec. Très bien fait.

cecile (4193) 2004-03-31 15:09

héhé décidement c'est la journée "hot" sur TE! j'aime beaucoup....

steffleu (1397) 2004-03-31 17:23

WOW !!! superbe ce combat ! encore une scène insolite de dame nature !
Bravo la photo est très bonne !

waskahegan (0) 2004-03-31 20:57

An amusing situation, and great colors

robbertjan (2906) 2004-04-01 4:09

Bente what a great bird shot. There is realy a lot of action here. Your shot it on the right moment. Very sharp and beautiful colors. Mabey i had personally composed the birds a bit to the sides. But nevertheless good picture, with a great note!

RobBrown (1797) 2004-04-01 16:38

Nice one bente good clearshot, the mallard might be said to have a worried look about him.
Just wait till the coots get going,things tend to die in my experience when they get upset.

JudyH (700) 2004-04-02 15:06

Fantastically timed shot. I will definately have to try harder to capture images such as this. Fantastic composition and great colours. Well done.

mogens-j (56) 2004-04-03 17:03

Aggressive - aren't they. I have seen them chasing ducks on the shore but never an attack like this. Very well done and wonderful timing - and a little bit of luck too. I hope the poor mallard didn't drown.

bullybeef53 (3365) 2004-04-06 9:05

An incredible shot , perfect timing and I love the look on the ducks face . The note accompanying the photograph is exceptional. Well done !

cdewet (0) 2004-04-11 8:49

Bente
This is very good behavioral action. Well done! And yes, I enjoy the new toy. Will take me two weeks to sort out the more than 3000 pictures I took, then will post some.

ChainSaw (34) 2004-06-18 18:34 [Comment]

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