Amazing duck flight on less than two wings!

[Romy Ocon]

From afar, my naked eyes noticed that something was a bit odd with this duck. I couldn't place it exactly at first, then I realized from a distance that its wing flaps are a bit faster than those of its flight mates.

I then acquired it in my viewfinder and 700 mm of magnification showed something amazing - for whatever reason, this duck lost a significant portion of its flight feathers and it can still fly!

Wow.... looks like nature has built some excess capacity into this species' flight system. I'd say at least 20% of the wing surface was gone, yet the bird could still keep up with its flight mates. It did have to beat its wing faster to generate the same lift and forward thrust.

1DM2 + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/7.1, 1/1600 sec, ISO 320, manual exposure, 475B/3421 support:



IRomy

[Raul Marcelo]

So ducks don't look gorgeous when some parts are missing pala. hahaha

[Ding Carpio]

Hmmm...how can a duck lose feathers on both wings symmetrically ? Hunter's gun?

[Bobby Kintanar]

The guy is probably just another hen-pecked bloke! :-)

[raymondjbarlow]

amazing Romy, my guess is the feathers nave never grown in.

[Romy Ocon]

Thanks, guys.... I've a long shot theory.... perhaps this duck got too close to JP when the fellow was floating in his blind. It's remotely possible that JP couldn't resist grabbing the duck, but the bird managed to get away. ;D

[Lydia Robledo]

A staunch follower of Rizal plucked out some feathers (ouch! kawawa naman the duck) and now writes with maybe a nom de plume so WBCP's Mike Lu and Ipat Luna will not be after him. Di niya alam the tube is mightier than the pen lalo na may PBP celebrity pa

[JP Cariño]

admin said:

Thanks, guys.... I've a long shot theory.... perhaps this duck got too close to JP when the fellow was floating in his blind. It's remotely possible that JP couldn't resist grabbing the duck, but the bird managed to get away. ;D

hahaha what a theory! ;D could this be an escapee? from a private collector or zoo where some people cut the primary feathers to prevent birds from flying away