Torrent Duck – Photographing in the Roar of Wild Water

When we think of a duck, most of us probably imagine a stocky bird with a flat beak, cruising across calm, mirror-like water. And indeed, of the 165 species of ducks known today, the vast majority fit this description. But there are four species that have chosen a very different path of making fast-flowing rivers their home. And among them, the undisputed extremist is the South American Torrent Duck, a bird whose entire existence is bound to the raging rivers cascading down the steep slopes of the high Andes.