bird photography : hooded merganser

What a productive morning of birding! This fine Hooded Merganser alone made getting up at just past five in the morning well worth it. All told, John and Beth spotted a handful of these beauties, including a mated pair, along with several other species they'd previously not encountered at Huntley Meadows Park.

Equipment: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT Canon EF 300mm f4L IS with 1.4x Teleconverter Settings: f8; 1/400 sec.; focal length at 420 mm; ISO 400 Date: March 26, 2006 9:14 am Location: Huntley Meadows Park / Fairfax County, VA Photography Notes: John hopes to get a closer photo of one of these beautiful birds, as the crop for this image exposes the limits of his 300mm lens.