Earlier in the year, a male Australasian Darter made Oak Street Wetland it’s temporary home. This photograph was taken on 11 March 2024. When the Darter had his back towards me, I sneaked up behind him and positioned myself close to the water’s edge. To my surprise, he started turning around. That allowed me to take this frontal photograph of the Darter. Surprisingly, he didn’t realised that I was there until I stood up to leave.

The 800mm lens caused the shot to be quite tight. A 600mm lens would have been ideal in this situation. I was also in a squatting position to take the photograph through the viewfinder. In retrospect, I should have try taking this picture using the flip screen of the camera and held it lower just above the water. However, it could make it difficult to position the Darter within the frame.

Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO6400