595 Keeping Your Ducks in a Row

A family of common mergansers gave us a wide birth as we relaxed on a narrow bridge on Lake Solitaire, northeast of Huntsville. We were walking the Limberlost Trail around Lake Solitaire and having a snack break. The merganser family were used to being kept in a neat row by the old hen.
The lead merganser is scoping the water for minnows…, as is the second from the last. The remaining mergansers are just happy to be kept in line ready to be called for dinner when a big enough school is spotted and corralled.
The water is heavily sun dappled and reflected. It was mid to late morning on a very sunny day. I was really happy with the impression and I had to pull myself away from working on the canvas trying to make it that much better. There is a fair bit of raw sienna peeking through but that's "okay". Sometimes less is much more and I think and hope this is the case for the ducks.

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