The Perils of Little Bluebill....

....AKA the Lesser Scaup.
Just this past week I was reading that a lot of ducks are dying this winter because of the ice on the Lake. If there's too much solid ice they have trouble finding open water for their food, & when there are too many small, thick pieces of ice, it can make it difficult for them to swim. They also need larger pieces of ice to rest on when they fly further out over the Lake. Who knew? But today when we went to South Shore to look for some ducks to shoot (as in photographically, not as in shotgun), I saw this Little Bluebill about half way out between the breakers & the shore---its' wings started flapping so I thought to get a shot of it flying. But then as I watched, I realized it was really struggling! It flew just a short distance, then plopped back into the water. It was trying to swim & finally made it to a larger piece of ice where it rested for quite awhile. Then it waddled over to the edge of the ice  & went back in the water. It would swim for a bit, then try to fly a little way, then swim again. I guess it could be sick, as the water seemed to be flowing pretty freely--- until I looked at it on the computer & realized there's still pretty much ice in there.  It finally made it to the base of the rocks, where another Lesser Scaup flew in & landed by it, & then a whole flock of them swam out from the water underneath the rocks & came out by it. I took a number of pics if you'd like to see them here.