Common Merganser swimming with a first winter male Common Goldeneye – Nikon D500, f10, 1/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Yesterday afternoon when the sun came out and the fog cleared I went down to my local pond to see what birds I could photograph. Most of the birds were pretty far out on the water or on the shore on the other side of the water. Because of recent and higher than normal warm temps the pond is completely free of ice again.
I did see two diving ducks yesterday that caught my eye because they were swimming together and I don’t normally see the two species closely associating with each other. I found it interesting to see a first winter drake Common Goldeneye swimming with a first winter Common Merganser and decided to photograph them.
The Common Merganser is on the left and the Common Goldeneye is on the right in this photo.
I know that the Common Goldeneye is a first winter male because when he was swimming in the other direction I could see a smudgy loral spot between the eye and the bill that isn’t as easily seen in the photo above. The loral spot is only seen on the males of the Common Goldeneye species. The first winter drake also shows some white feathers on his sides and coverts that a female Common Goldeneye would not have. So I know the sex of the Common Goldeneye in the photo and I know he hatched last year.
The Common Merganser? The sex of the merganser isn’t quite as easy for me to determine although I am certain Peter Pyle would be able to tell me in a split second, he is that good.
Because of the visible white stripe that is seen from below the merganser’s eye that extends to the bill I know that this merganser was hatched last year. Adult females, who do look somewhat similar, do not typically have that white stripe. As for the rest of the body of the bird I am just not seeing enough ID features to be able to determine the sex of the merganser. I wish the merganser had flapped its wings or preened because that might have given me more information. Or that the merganser had moved closer to me so I could look at its feathers more closely but it never got closer to me than when I took this long distance photo.
The lighter sides combined with a slightly noticeable darker back has me leaning towards first winter male but I could be wrong. Maybe these are duck bros hanging out together, maybe they aren’t.
If the fog clears today and the sun comes out I’d like to try getting more photos of this merganser if it is still there.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Common Merganser photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.
We used to see more common mergansers this time of year. I rarely see them now . They are a favorite of mine.
Guess they had some things in COMMON….
Just chillin’ buds. 😉 What a fun shot!
Yes, duck pals.
Teenagers just hanging out together.
Indeed! That is what I thought too.