Big Splash! WC 571

I really like this image Barb. It seems like the female duck is having a crazy moment and the male is just sitting back quietly until it is over!

Ok, there she goes again! I think I better stay outta her way when she's mad!
Interesting action Barb

I love the way the male duck is just waiting and watching while the female has a "hissyfit". However, from watching the ducks on our creek, the male was probably being obnoxious and she was trying to chase him away! Neat action shot and I think I like the female blurred. . .it emphasizes the chaotic actions of the female. As far as more space on the right,"real estate" could be added with some tricky editing if you wished to do it.

Neat photo of a drake just minding his own business when attacked by a female! Actually I like the behavior you caught in this photo. I agree the drake is too close to the edge, but IMHO the blur of the hen sets the tone of the photo. Thanks for sharing.

This is a fine action catch of the female and the splash. I don't think your shutter speed is a problem at all. The male is too close to the edge and the female's wing tip is getting close to the left edge. Since you list 165mm as your focal length you must have been using a zoom, backing that off to maybe 150mm would probably have created enough edge space without making the ducks and splash too small. Having spent some time watching Mallards, this could be part of the female routine after a mating event. Did you see the preceding couple of minutes?

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. No, Mark, I didn't see what happened before the splash. I was hiking when I got to this pond and saw this pair of Mallards. She started splashing like this and I took this picture quickly to try to capture the action before it was over. She stopped splashing, I took a couple more photos and then continued my hike. Maybe they had been mating. This pond was in a quiet, kind of isolated area, so maybe it would have been a good spot for them to mate.