A Mallard hen, coming in for a landing on a small tidal pond at Valdez, Alaska. I was shooting photos of the ducks already in the pond when I saw her approaching out of the corner of my eye. I was able to get locked onto her before she hit the water.
Sony a6500, SEL100400GM @ 400mm, ISO-250, f/5.6, 1/4000, hand held.
@garyminish
Hi Gary,
I like the sharpness of the incoming bird and that we can see the eye with such a dynamic landing pose. I might take out the bright horizontal line on the left edge. Nice capture.
Great landing pose, Gary, and excellent sharpness. After reading Allen’s comment, I can’t keep my eyes away from that bright line he mentioned, so I think I’d remove it also.
Great capture, Gary. I love that the eye is visible through the wing feathers. A great capture. Okay, so we will blame Allen for the bright line pulling our eye. 
I did the same thing that Dennis did, read Allen’s comment and then I found it pulling my eye. Power of suggestion maybe. A great shot, just like it is, in my opinion.
Nicely seen and photographed, Gary. Excellent pose and I like that I can see a bit of the eye through the feathers. Well composed too.
Excellent detail and great timing to catch the eye between the wing feathers.
Thanks Allen, but I’m afraid it had nothing to do with timing. I just followed her in with the shutter button held down and then picked this one from the line of photos 
