{"id":4906,"date":"2012-05-04T03:55:53","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T09:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4906"},"modified":"2025-09-12T07:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:33:06","slug":"red-breasted-merganser-at-220mm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/04\/red-breasted-merganser-at-220mm\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-breasted Merganser – At 220mm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-breasted Red-breasted Merganser on the shore of a tidal lagoon – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 220mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t always need to have long focal lengths to get close up images, this Red-breasted Merganser image was taken with a moderately priced Nikkor 70-300mm VR at only 220mm and it is practically full frame.<\/p>\n

How did I get an image of a wild\u00a0Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator<\/em>)\u00a0from so close?<\/p>\n

Patience:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I approached the bird very slowly from the water by sitting on my legs and shuffling them forward very slowly and keeping my appearance as small as possible.<\/p>\n

Observation:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Watching the bird carefully for any sign or alarm or distress. If I noticed the bird show either sign I stopped dead still and waited. When I could see clearly that the bird was relaxed I would inch forward.<\/p>\n

The series I have of this bird numbers over 100, it was so relaxed it preened while I photographed it.<\/p>\n

It also helped that the bird was in a location where it had become habituated to humans on the beach, that can help with shorter focal lengths.<\/p>\n

Then I retreated as slowly and as carefully as I approached it without disturbing the merganser. That felt awesome.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Taken at Fort De Soto County Park’s<\/span><\/a> north beach in Florida.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Red-breasted Merganser photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don’t always need to have long focal lengths to get close up images, this image was taken with a moderately priced Nikkor 70-300mm VR at only 220mm and it is practically full frame. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,133],"tags":[11219,4004,4142,9351,4705,4704,277,11220,4246,4281,870,140,4156,2063],"class_list":["post-4906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-red-breasted-mergansers","tag-70-300mm","tag-adult","tag-close-up","tag-lens","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-serrator","tag-moderately-priced","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-observation","tag-patience","tag-red-breasted-merganser","tag-resting","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t