White Wings

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of a female white-winged scoter - the only one of the large flocks out on the ocean that came close enough for me to get a shot. I wanted to get a shot of a male too. Well, today the conditions were perfect for photographing the ducks - warm, bright diffuse light and a super calm ocean. You could just about see your reflection in it. And the ducks were feeding cl0se to shore. So I put on my shorts and my sandals and waded in with the birds.

It was wonderful to watch them, they are fantastically agile and they revel in the waves, bobbing over the top or swimming right through them (seagulls jump the waves). They were not too bothered by me, but they didn't like it when dogs approached (I think the dogs were more interested in me than the ducks) and they swam off if the seagulls got too excited.

Took about a million pictures, but I like this one where the male is showing off his white wings. With their wings folded, they are almost completely black.