About the Image(s)

I saw this duck for the first time when I followed the sound of its weird call that sounded nothing like a duck I ever heard, more of a yelping sound. When I located the bird, It was diving repeatedly in search of food and then surfaced some distance away after about 30 seconds or so each time. It was small and it didn’t have much in colors, and didn’t seem all that interesting, but since I’ve never seen one before, I took this photo. I learned later that because of its unique beak and foot configuration; this is not a duck. Its closest living relative is the flamingo. It has a short, narrow beak (like a chicken) and does not have webbed feet. Instead, its toes have lobes that come out of each side of each toe that allows for easy paddling and maneuverability and because their feet placement is located near the back of the body, they cannot walk on land.

Handheld full frame body with a 100-400 zoom set at 400mm, 1/4000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500. Photo is cropped in Lightroom Classic.