American Widgeon (Duck)

This American Widgeon is one of the “snow birds” that migrate to the fishing lagoons of Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona in the winter. This image is from the first winter I spent in Phoenix. It is simply a delight to see the various species of waterfowl that make Papago Park their home for the winter. I captured this image using a Pentax *istD DSLR and a 40-year-old 200mm F:4 Pentax SMC Takumar lens. Trying to focus on these constantly moving creatures with a manual lens is challenging. But my efforts paid off. The SMC coatings on these old Pentax lenses are still among the best in the industry. They capture colors with minimal ghosting or reflections which is usually a problem with highly reflective feathers when shooting ducks.