TomKal foto

A beautiful duck, but sadly quite rare in Poland. The Polish name of the bird “czernica” has perhaps something to do with the word “czarny” (Eng. “black”), and is due to its coloring. Male tufted ducks have black heads and chests with a touch of iridescent green. Females, as it often happens in nature, don’t have such an impressive plumage. The weight of the tufted duck does not exceed 1.5 kilograms, with a wingspan of about 70 centimeters.
Last minute news – 05/2014
There changes in this gallery. At the beginning of May, I had some little time and I succeeded in taking several photos that are suitable for this gallery. Unfortunately, it was too rainy and cloudy, which made the chances of taking interesting photos as well as their quality low. No place to complain. The gallery is improving steadily.
Last minute news 06/2014 – Iceland
When I was photographing horned grebes not far from them there were tufted ducks swimming. The lighting was fortunately  contrasting and I managed to capture the subtleties of the coloring of the tufted duck male’s head. The photos have been added to the gallery.
Last minute news-06/2022
After eight years, the pictures of the Tufted Ducks radically changed the content of the gallery. This was due to the testing of a floating-hide. Unfortunately, if you want to take pictures of waterfowl from an interesting perspective, you have to go into the water. Unfortunately, because this is a bit extreme photography for me. Photographing Smews gave me a hard time because I wasn't as prepared as this time. I had thoroughly prepared myself to start photographing with this new technique. Being in the water alone and this at the beginning of the photography at night forces you to use all the tools available to make it safe. After analysing the possibilities offered by the market, I purchased a floating-hide (link- https://www.floating-hide.com/ ). Admittedly, it has only been launched a few times, but it must be said that its ergonomics, ease of assembly, stability are impressive. Everything is well thought out and works as it should. I also added a camouflage net, which makes the camouflage even more effective. However, it was not the most important thing. The birds at first were very wary of the new object in the reeds. Staying still, the birds got closer by the hour. This being in the water this time is severely limited by temperature and human endurance. With a dry suit and suitable clothing, one can last up to five hours in the water. This is already enough, assuming that you enter the water a little before dawn and everything calms down so that interesting shots can be taken in the best light in the morning. The birds nevertheless need time to get used to each other, to assimilate to the float. As usual, it takes time for many attempts at photography and for the surroundings to get used to each other. Unfortunately this is still scarce with me. It's a pity, because watching the sunrise from the water, the behaviour of birds is an unforgettable experience. The highlight of my swimming plans is the Great Crested Grebe. I saw their mating behaviour several times, unfortunately the distance was too far even for a 600 with a converter. The birds looked at each other, showed an almost invisible orifice which was placed and beautifully displayed. After a lot of mating reveries, suddenly one of the partners (probably the male) like a basilisk, full of energy, excitement, disguised his legs so fast that he literally walked on the water for probably a hundred metres. The excitement subsided and at the end of this spectacle there was suddenly a wall of water covering the whole bird. This needs to be photographed at some point! The float offers a great opportunity to open a new stage in my photography and rework my existing galleries with photos from a more interesting perspective. As time permits this will probably happen, although it is, as always, the hardest thing to do. In the summer you have to get up around 2am to factor in all the logistics to get a photo session finished around 10 am. Today, after a few attempts at photography, I know that the images presented in the gallery have to be considered only as interesting samples. Taking the time to be in the float will lead to much more interesting photos that have not yet been on my site. The tool is there only time will tell if enough of it has been found to be able to observe and photograph water birds from a duck's perspective....