Another visit to the canal this morning gave me the opportunity, with some sun to try and get a better photo of the Scaup duck. She was in exactly the same spot as yesterday and posed for ages as I tried to get a decent shot of her. It was fascinating to watch her dive. I studied her behaviour and noticed that the indication that she was about to submerge was a noticeable “sinking” of the body prior to making the plunge. This didn’t appear to be caused by the movement of her legs but as though she was expelling air from her body or perhaps tightening the feathers and making the body less buoyant to enable her stay submerged with less effort. Whatever the cause was, it certainly was very obvious and a sure sign that she was about to dive. I am sure that this behaviour has been noticed by others before me and studied. I would be grateful if anyone can enlighten me as to what is actually going on. I took at least 20 photos of her just as she dived and found it nigh on impossible to capture the precise moment as the head touched the water just as she dived in. Probably because this is such a very quick act and takes literally split seconds. But I almost achieved it.

I think I have around 20 photos like this almost identical. My reactions were just not quick enough.