It is well known that there is a positive correlation between saccade amplitude and saccade duration (van Beers, 2007). If saccade amplitude shows an exponential distribution, the distribution of saccade duration is known to be bimodal. This study aims at investigating the saccade duration distribution and discussing its relation with the two modes of viewing during the exploration of scenes. The ambient mode is characterized by large amplitude saccades and short duration fixations, and the focal mode shows shorter saccades and longer fixations (Unema et al 2005). Mode classification relies on the previous saccade amplitudes (Follet et al 2011). We used data from 28 participants freely exploring natural scenes in an object memorization task. Data analysis showed that the bimodality of saccade duration distribution was not present when taking into account only saccades with a small amplitude (< 5°). We clustered fixations according to the duration of the previous saccade. Short duration saccades showed slow speed compared to longer saccades, reminiscent of smooth pursuit eye movements. Interestingly, short duration saccades were preceded by longer and followed by shorter fixations than long saccades, suggesting that the bimodality of the saccade duration distribution is not related to focal/ambient mode.