Surprise hoodies for Thanksgiving

After sleeping in on Thanksgiving morning, I went into the living room and pulled back the curtains on the sliding doors and there was 6 hooded mergansers floating in front of our dock. I was so excited I was yelling "The hoodies are back" as I ran for my camera. I had not seen them since early spring. This is the 3rd winter we've had them hang out in our channel for a couple of months. I took all of the above through the windows. If I open the door they start to swim down the channel.  Mergansers are diving ducks so they dive down pretty deep to get their food. I just happen to catch the female coming back up with a small fish in her beak. The males are so easy to spot with that big white dot on his head. Out of the 6, three were much darker than the other lighter females so I'm thinking they might be juveniles born early this spring. Since Thanksgiving weekend another male had joined them and I see them swimming around every morning. If anybody steps out into the yard, they take off either flying away or swimming quickly to the other end of the channel. I hope they stay through the winter. I'm sure I'll be taking tons of pictures so I'll keep you posted.