In the winter, we see Hooded Mergansers and a few other diving ducks on our creek in the Tidewater region of Virginia. This is a female. She’s a lovely duck but much less colorful than her male counterpart. The mergansers are very skittish and once they see me, my only photo options are flying duck butt. Not their best angle!
The male hooded merganser is one of my favorite ducks. I wish I had a bit more of a contrast between his head and the water. I hope to get a better angle and better light next time. I tried doing a few things in lightroom, but wasn’t satisfied with my results. It just looked too processed, so I stayed with my original.