Sony a6400, Sony 70-350mm lens, 1/2000s, ISO-6400, 350mm.
The duck pond is part of a huge cemetery, and staff told me this duck never crossed the water to where the visitors are but stays on the far side, swimming back and forth in shadow with her mallard companion. I absolutely needed the telephoto lens to capture it.
I'm so glad I went back yesterday; I woke up this morning to heavy overcast and rain, and getting a good photo of this reclusive bird today would have been difficult.
#BirdsSeenin2026 #birds #merganser #ducks #NEOhio
This is the first time I've seen this bird. It's a female, and there was no male in sight. She was hanging out with a female mallard. At first I took pics in fog, but they were terrible, so I returned in late afternoon. Success! Details in ALT.