White-winged Scoter, Mousam River, Kennebunk ME

Scoters are sea ducks, generally seen just at the limits of vision off shore. I was amazed to find this single White-winged Scoter about a mile up the Mousam River from the sea, hanging out in the shadow of the bridge across Route 9. And it was literally hanging in the shadow. It went from one side of the bridge to the other, but always stayed in the shadow of the bridge??? My references do say that this scoter breeds further inland than the others and is the most likely to be seen on rivers and ponds during migration…so I guess I really did not need to be surprised. But I was! 🙂

Nikon P900 at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Program with -1/3 EV exposure compensation. 1/125th @ ISO 450 @ f6.3. (Pretty good for handheld at 1200mm and 1/125!) Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.