Dancing with the Stars

I saw a scaup cleaning itself in the same manner last year, flipping almost completely over on it's back and preening it's belly. It is the only duck species I have seen do it in quite this way. I saw this one doing the same thing the other day.

I wasn't too happy with where the duck was located in regard to my position. I was having to shoot directly into the sun and there was a lot of light dancing and glancing off the water creating a nightmare for exposure.

So, I decided to embrace it and do the best I could. Turns out, the glints of light add a lot of interest to the photos.

Look at the size of that hoof! Being a diving duck, they have to be well equipped for getting around underwater.

To maintain it's posture, the scaup has to keep kicking the foot that is underwater, which causes it to spin around in circles

A little scratching of the "ears," something all ducks do. Actually, I'm not sure where their ears are.

I usually shoot with the lens as wide open as I can get it because most of the time I need all the light I can get - and then some.  But when you are shooting into the sun, I had to close down the lens and use a much smaller aperture, which lets in less light.  When you have your lens wide open, you get these nice round spots of light (referred to as "bokeh" after the Japanese term for the effect) which can enhance a photo. When the lens is closed down, the same spots become stars which can be distracting. Maybe it is because I don't see them in my photos very often, but I like the effect in these images.

Look at the water dripping off it's bill. You wonder how ducks could be wet so much of the time and still be warm in the winter.