lirralirra

Over the past few days I’ve been photographing Australian Wood Ducks/Maned Ducks and I am stoked with the images I managed to capture of a male, a female and a couple of ducklings.

This week’s first photograph is a female as she rested beside a suburban pond. She has softer colouring than the male, warm browns with two white stripes on her face. I love the way she has tucked her head into her feathers and is peeking out at the world. These ducks mate for life and stay together all year.

So it’s no surprise that this male Australian Wood Duck/Maned Duck was snuggled beside her for a rest. The ‘mane’ of the male is the dark row of feathers at the back of his head. He has a darker brown head than the female and lacks the white facial stripes. I really like the delicate fringing on the feathers around his face.

I felt like both of these ducks were peeking out at the world wondering about the recommendation from the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Recreational Hunting of Native Birds in Victoria which was due this week. I was feeling an unsettling mixture of apprehension and hope.

Sometimes getting down low can really help to isolate birds from the background. By limiting the depth of field (f/4.5) I could focus just on the duckling and the grasses that are on the same focal plane. This means that the grasses in the foreground and background are out of focus, highlighting the duckling and what it is eating. This duckling was one of half a dozen that were darting around as they foraged. These ducks eat mainly grasses and clover along with occasional insects.

One of the ducklings had been racing around so much that it needed a rest. I love the look of its fluffed tail, its white chest and those soft brown spots on its flanks. The blurred background in this photograph is a sunburst of dried reeds on the far side of the pond.

On Thursday morning the Inquiry announced its recommendation for a permanent ban to recreational duck shooting in Victoria! It was a wonderful moment and I thank every single person who has been part of the journey towards this outcome. The recommendation still needs to be approved by the government and, sadly, the building unions are putting up a fight. I urge everyone who cares to send a kind, supportive email to the addresses below to urge them to accept the findings and implement a permanent ban.

It would be lovely to think that this duckling and others like it, will never have to look over their shoulders at shooters, only at bird watchers marvelling at their cuteness.

This duckling did a little preening and then lifted its tiny wing and stretched its massive leg and foot. The texture of its limb is remarkably reptilian.

Thanks to the recommendation of the Parliamentary Inquiry we are now just one step away from a total ban which would save 100,000s of native birds, annually, from being killed and horrifically injured by shotguns. A huge amount of work was undertaken by the members of the Select Committee and the secretariat to cope with the record number of submissions: over 10,000 were received. Submissions can be read by visiting this page: Parliamentary Inquiry – Duck Shooting Submissions

The government has six months to decide whether or not to accept the recommendations of the panel. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the building unions are threatening to strike if a ban is put in place, so it would be fabulous if you could write just one more note to your Labor MPs (Upper and Lower house) and, importantly, to the following decision-makers kindly imploring them to accept the findings of the Inquiry: sonya.kilkenny@parliament.vic.gov.au Ingrid.Stitt@parliament.vic.gov.au daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au gayle.tierney@parliament.vic.gov.au

It is exciting to be this close to a permanent ban, and harrowing that we are not quite there yet.

Happy birding and I hope you see some ducklings during the week, Kim

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