This is a new photography species for me. I captured these yesterday. They are called Surf Scoters. They are large, ocean ducks that dive for small mollusks. They breed in Canada and migrate south for the winter. In reality, I was really just too far away to capture good high quality images but thought I'd share anyway. Captured at Natural Bridges State park in Santa Cruz (75 miles south of San Francisco on the north tip of Monterey Bay). They are not rare by any means, I just don't see them that often where I can photograph them.
Best
Miguel
This one was quite close but I still had to zoom in quite a bit.
These were loitering out just beyond the surf line. They were about 400-500 feet away
The males were regularly chasing each other aggressively
A female who sensibly dives into the wave face
A male trying to escape getting dumped (or perhaps he was surfing). Waves were about 4-5 feet
They can also walk on water,
fly quite well...
and pose wonderfully as all birds do when they come in for a landing
