Field Notes
The smew is a small, crisp diving duck, and the drake — patterned as though sketched in ink — is one of the more prized winter ducks a birder can hope for in India.
My single encounter came at Gajoldoba: a female "redhead" with her chestnut cap and white cheeks among the other wildfowl. Some species I have photographed only once, and this is one of them — that lone frame now carries the whole memory of the morning.
