Four images. FINAL posting for this SERIES. Does she or doesn't she get to swallow the BIG CATFISH.

TOP Image: Looks like she is getting it into position on the run. (This is not uncommon as other Mergansers will often give chase to steel a catch. The fish then has to be turned, aligned and swallowed on the run to prevent the theft of the fish.)


Yep, it's all lined up to go down.


Then, those curious Mallards chased her into a corner with ice behind her and to her left. Looks like there's no way out. But unexpectedly she...................


......put on the afterburners and took off into the shadows of an overpass. Once airborne she flew, fish in beak, under the overpass and to some open water on the other side of the river. At that point I lost track of her, so your guess is as good as mine.

P.S.

I suspect that if this tenacious Merganser found some uninhabited open water, she probably consumed her catch. If on the other hand there were other Mergansers present, she would have a fight on her hands to maintain possession as the more rested Mergansers would no doubt try to steel it from her, unlike the Mallards who were simply curious.

A small confession: The final image was taken at the same location two days after the other images. I had missed the take-off that first day as it happened so quickly that I was not ready. Also I had a little help from Photoshop on that last image as I cloned in the fish to add a bit of drama.

I previously stated that I was shooting the Merganser and fish for about 20 minutes. I was wrong. On checking the images, the time from the first image to the last was less than seven minutes. Good thing too as both I and the Merganser were nearly frozen. Twenty minutes might have done us in.

Thank you all for you comments and visits.