Quite unexpectedly, I'd spotted Goosanders—the common and utterly British name for the Common Merganser—exceedingly early this year: February 9, to be exact. But that was only a few of the fish eating ducks, and no sooner had they arrived in the one unfrozen stretch of millpond than they left for less icy waters with plenty of more easily harvested fish. This afternoon, however, with most of the ice off the pond, my wife and granddaughter happened to be driving by and spotted the unmistakable glare off the Goosander's brilliant white breeding plumage and told me to shoulder up the Sigma 100-400mm telephoto and get to work. Happily, the birds were still working our waters in a flock of at least a half-dozen males and perhaps a quartet of females. This is a section of the group. It's hard to know if the female was suitably impressed by the well-dressed guys. I was certainly impressed by all of them.