Mother's Instinct

First of this year's crop of ducklings, that I've seen at least. Initially they didn't seem too bothered by my presence, but as I set up my camera mother became wary and started to head away. At that point I had to act quickly to get a shot and because they were now in motion I probably didn't have a fast enough shutter.

This was probably one instance where working without a tripod might have been sensible, but the weight of the long lens means it's hard to control hand held.

Edit: I had labelled these Blue Winged Teal initially on account of the blue band on the mother's wing (not visible in this image). I subsequently realised they are in fact Mallards. One distinguishing feature is the brown beak vs black for teals.