As I have mentioned before, the Hooded Merganser is my favorite duck (or duck like bird at least). I like the bold color contrast and the flaring crest and the bright orange eye. I like its active nature…always on the move and full of energy. Of course the reasons I like it are exactly the reasons it is a hard bird to photograph, especially to digiscope (to photograph through the eyepiece of a spotting scope). The Hoody offers one of the most difficult of exposure problems. Pure white and jet black in a pattern. And it moves way to much and too fast to track easily in the narrow field of a spotting scope.

So I am always in my element at Viera Wetlands (Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera). Viera Wetlands is a “municipal wetlands”…a waste water treatment plant that uses marsh and pools in the final stages of treatment, and which has been converted for easy access for birders. Since my last visit a year ago, they have even built a road that takes you directly to the entrance, bypassing the water treatment plant buildings. Viera is great for bird photography…certainly among the top two or three spots for Florida waders and wintering ducks, and one of the best spots nationwide. It is especially good for digiscoping as you can pull to side of the dyke roads anywhere and set up your tripod in front of or behind the car in relative safety. And the birds are very cooperative. They are secure in the habitat and will allow you to do your thing while you do yours as long as you stay on the dyke.

And that includes the 30 or 40 Hooded Mergansers that are there on every visit in January. They favor a pond near the entrance, but one that you can only reach by traveling the full circle of the one way access road. They are generally in close, feeding within 50 or 60 feet of the foot of the dyke. I spent a half hour, two different times around the loop, digiscoping them…or attempting to do so. And I got my best shots to date.

Canon SD100HS in Program behind the 40x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. 1) and 2)  2450mm equivalent field of view, 1/500th @ ISO 100. f6.7 effective. 3) 4500mm equivalent, 1/200th @ ISO 100, f12 effective. 4) 2900mm equivalent, 1/250th @ ISO 250, f7.9 effective.

Processed in Lightroom for Sharpness.