I generally have had difficulties getting good photos of Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus), because of their size, speed, and skittishness. These little ducks also hang out in different bodies of water than the Mallard Ducks and Canada Geese that I regularly feature and the little streams where they can be found are pretty inaccessible and offer obstructed views of the water.
I did manage yesterday to finally get some decent photos of a Hooded Merganser couple together and separately. I ended up having to walk and down the banks of a stream repeatedly as the ducks changes directions every time they seemed to sense me (and eventually flew away) The first photo is probably my favorite, but I like all three of them.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
excellent photos!
Thanks, Vicki. I’m pretty happy with them.
They are such striking birds. Nice photos, Mike.
Thanks, Sue. I am beginning to wonder if they’ll be here all winter
Nice! Very hard shots to get.
Thanks, and I definitely agree about the difficulty, but I guess that I enjoy the challenge. I keep firing away and sometimes the lighting or the focus or both work together. The newest bird that I am “stalking” is a belted kingfisher. I’ve seen him twice in the same location, but can’t get very close to him. I may post some photos (not really clear) to give folks an idea of this really cool looking bird.