Most diving ducks quite naturally prefer to hang out in places where the water is deep, which makes it a challenge to get any shots of them and almost impossible to get close-up shots. Last Friday I was happy to spot some Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator), a species of diving duck that I rarely encounter, in the wind-swept waters of Belmont Bay at the confluence of the Occoquan and Potomac Rivers in Northern Virginia.
Both the male and female of this species have spiky hair that takes on wild shapes thanks to the effects of the wind and the water. The male in the middle of the first shot was busy preening, so I am including a separate shot of him when he deemed he was ready for an individual portrait.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
“I can’t do a thing with it…”
We rarely see mergansers, but their “hair” amuses me in any conditions. That top photo’s a classic — love Dan’s response.
We get a glimpse of Hooded Mergansers fairly regularly, but it is unusual for me to see a red-breasted merganser. I love the wispy head feather of the female Hoodie and both genders of the red-breasted mergansers.