After the deed, a bath and air dry was in order

I am surprised my “winter ducks” are still around. Usually they have all headed north by this time, but this pair of Hooded Mergansers may have decided to stay here this summer as I have images of them copulating in my community pond. After the deed was done, she had to take a bath and then dry her feathers. From this shot it is obvious why this species has to beat their wings very rapidly to fly. Shot with a Canon R5, a 600 mm f/4.0 lens with a 2.0X extender (1200 mm), at ISO 10,000, SS 1/3200, f/8.0 (wide open with this combo), EC -0.3 (to avoid blowing out the whites especially on the male). DXO Pure Raw 4 was used to convert and then very little processing was done in PS. About 80% FF.