We’ve had a small flock of Lesser Scaups in a retention pond near our house.  One afternoon I took a walk with my Beast to see if I could photograph them.  I had a feeling they’d be pretty skittish, but they didn’t seem to mind me.  I did get some funny looks from the golfers, though!

Lesser Scaups are pretty common winter ducks.  I haven’t had a whole lot of opportunities to photograph them, though, so I was pleased to get them in pretty afternoon light.  Look at how the male’s black head glistens dark green in the bright sunlight!  The female is brown with a white spot on her face.

The scaups were busy doing their afternoon dives, and they didn’t mind showing off for my camera.  I’ve always tried to photograph various ducks as they dive.  It’s harder than it sounds, because they are so fast!  I lay down on the bank of the retention pond and focused on the duck closest to me.  He was diving every couple of seconds, so I started shooting well in advance of his dive in order to not miss it. This duck was nice and resurfaced regularly in about the same place, so I didn’t have to constantly relocate him.  Isn’t it nice when birds cooperate with you? :)