February 2nd is World Wetlands Day to raise global awareness about the critical role of wetlands for people, wildlife and our planet.
At first I thought the single Red-breasted Merganser was a female until I noticed the white patches of feathers behind its neck on its sides and then I realized that the merganser was a male because females do not typically have those white patches.
Near the auto tour route though I saw what appeared to be 250 to 300 Red-breasted Mergansers on the Bear River. I think it was the largest raft of Red-breasted Mergansers I have ever seen.
Red-breasted Mergansers do not breed in Utah, they breed much further north in Alaska, across northern Canada to New Newfoundland and the Great Lakes of Michigan but they do migrate through this area.
I photographed this Red-breasted Merganser floating on the Gulf of Mexico on an April morning from the shoreline at Fort De Soto, Florida in April of 2008.
There has only been a few times that I have had the opportunity to get a Red-breasted Merganser portrait and each time it occurred in Florida.
Moving; even just a little bit, can change the background of an image even when the subject is stationary.
I've mentioned in another post that "Some Days are Magic" and I felt that magic the morning I created this image of a Red-breasted Merganser.
According to Birds of North America there are four foraging methods used by Red-breasted Mergansers which are Cooperative Herding, Individual Search, Shallow Diving and Deep Diving.
Many beginning photographers dream of taking images in far off places of exotic birds and there is nothing wrong with that. But we shouldn’t overlook the advantages of photographing birds close to home.
Sometimes I find an image appealing because of the memories it wakes up and not so much from the technical or compositional aspects, this Red-breasted Merganser image is one that isn't perfect but it does awaken memories and stirs my senses.
Awhile back someone told me that Mergansers don't change their plumage seasonally, which is of course incorrect as all three species of mergansers that live in North America do.
You don't always need to have long focal lengths to get close up images, this image was taken with a moderately priced Nikkor 70-300mm VR at only 220mm and it is practically full frame.
The weather outside hasn't been good for bird photography today but since I am always behind on editing I thought I'd process this Red-breasted Merganser image that I took in Florida a few years ago.
Another wonderful change that I have been seeing is that a variety of duck species have been arriving at the Great Salt Lake
Mergansers are considered "diving ducks" and one of the things the three species of mergansers found in North America all have in common are their serrated bills.