Smew

The Smew is a small diving duck, 38–44 centimetres long and weighing 450–650 grams. An adult drake is boldly black and white, a pattern often compared to cracked ice, while females and immature males are grey with a chestnut forehead and crown, white cheeks and chin, and black lores. Oval white wing patches show in flight. Its narrow bill ends in a hook and has serrated edges, adaptations that help it grip fish while diving. (Wikipedia, Smew account)

Smew breed across the northern Palearctic taiga from Scandinavia to Chukotka, using fish-rich lakes and slow rivers where trees provide nesting cavities. They place nests in tree holes, including abandoned woodpecker cavities. Seven to eleven cream eggs are incubated by the female for 26–28 days; ducklings leave soon after hatching and fly at roughly ten weeks. Migrants winter on sheltered coasts and inland lakes across Europe and Asia. At lake edges the species often keeps beneath small trees and flushes readily when disturbed. (Wikipedia, Smew account)