On the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg

At Government Island, Stafford, Virginia. 2:54pm, Kodak Easyshare, maximum zoom, no tripod. Got another chance at the same bird a few minutes later, 3:06pm, from a different angle and a bit closer.

How can the same bird look so different from a different angle and with light that must have been almost the same? And that is the same water, not snow, even the same spot. The temperature was about 60F, or 16C. I was in a T-shirt on the last Sunday in November.