The hooded mergansers arrived this week. The male is black and white and the female is brown. They often feed by swimming upstream, against the current, and scooping fish into their mouth. They are very shy and difficult to photograph close up.
I took these photos from my house. They are swimming in the flooded beaver ponds across the road. This required that I use a full 10x zoom in order to get any detail. Mergansers are "diving fish ducks with spikelike bills [and] saw-edged mandibles. Most species have crests, and are long-lined, slender-bodied" (Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Birds).
I am very happy to participate in the first week of Camera Critters. Be sure to click either the graphic below or the Technorati tag and view other animal photography. This is sure to be a popular meme.Technorati Tags: Hooded mergansers, Lophodytes cucullatus
Camera Critters_/\_/\_
