David Stimac's Image

When invited to accompany biologists on aerial waterfowl surveys, David didn’t hesitate.

‘Waterfowl are my inspiration,’ he explains, ‘and the cold winter had produced a lot of ice, which provides interesting images’. As they flew over a stretch of open water, a large flock of common merganser added intricacy and movement to the patterns in the ice. Easily identified by their white wing patches, these mergansers are the largest of the sawbills – diving ducks with long, serrated bills for catching fish. They migrate late in the autumn when ice begins to form on the lakes, often gathering in large flocks numbering up to several thousand birds.