This beautiful duck was wintering with a fairly large flock at Hornsby Bend Environmental Research Center in Austin, TX. These ducks summer and breed in the far north near the arctic circle. This was an interesting bird to observe. Their feeding pattern is very interesting with 2 to 10 ducks swimming in a tight circle all with heads under water for long periods of time. In fact, it took some patience to get a good shot of a duck with his head above water!

Photo taken in March, 2001.

Photo details: Nikon N90s, Sigma 800AF 5.6, Fuji Provia F, f11@250, fill flash with Nikon SB-28 -1.3 with fresnel extender, Manfrotto CF 440 with Kirk King Cobra Head.