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Undaunted by my early failures, I’ll photograph them every chance I get and am always delighted to find one at close range. Almost always — but not like this. While this male appears to be doing the backstroke, the reality was not so pleasant. It was struggling mightily just to swim around, listing heavily to one side and going in circles, so my first thought was that a leg had been caught by something from below. Sometimes it would roll completely over as it did here, and there was nothing obviously wrong with it.
I’m not sure if the problem was psychological or physical, but it was hard to watch, as the little duck was spending a lot of energy just to swim around and even just to keep its head above the water. It was still able to dive although it was impossible to tell how well it could swim underwater. I didn’t see it on my next visit to the refuge a week or two later, so I’m not sure if I just missed it, if the duck got better, or if it died on its own or at the hands of one of the bald eagles.
I hope your suffering was brief little one.