Red-Breasted Mergansers

This morning I took my camera and a newly-designed/constructed cradle for my camera to show a friend.  On my way back home I decided to stop by the local marina so see what might be around.  (Lately there has been a loon hanging out from time to time but this morning were a few Dunlin and a single, very active Pied-billed grebe. 

I was just leaving when five Red-breasted mergansers quickly flew in and paddled over towards me.  I moved towards them to get closer and to be able to use a railing for support of the camera and lens.  This caused the mergansers to move away from me and I was ready to give it up when I realized that they were paddling towards a more restricted part of the marina where I might be able to get even closer.  I drove my vehicle ahead of them and crossed bridge to the docks to set up an 'ambush'.  It worked! 

They swam underwater to get under the walkway but popped to the surface relatively close to me and I began taking photos.  They continued past me but soon another person came towards them on the docks and they returned to my area and began milling around and preening.  This gave me even more opportunities for photos and at an even closer distance. 

I later found that I was so close, and so intent on freezing the mergansers' motion that when I had more than one of the birds in the photo at a time only one would be in focus.  So ideally I might have used a slower shutter speed and gotten some improvement with my aperture, or dialed back on the magnification, but on the other hand there probably wasn't much getting around the problem with my lens.  

One of the mergansers didn't especially resemble the others, and I have to assume that it's a juvenile.  I didn't include a photo of it here. 

This male was obvously in transitional plumage and has a way to go before donning full breeding plumage, but he had a nice little group of followers anyway!