Male Hooded Merganser in Flight

Male Hooded Merganser in flight at Lake Elkhorn. Mergansers are known to be skittish so one needs a long telephoto lens to have a chance to capture them swimming, let alone in flight. The eastern part of the lake still being frozen worked to my advantage - I was ready to capture them flying away. I was on the shore about 30 foot away when the male flew away, followed by the female not long after.

Lens - Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD @ 400mm on Nikon D5500