I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes
For this week's Wild Bird I am featuring the Hooded Merganser. I have a few favorite ducks and the Hooded Merganser is one of them.
The male is an attractive duck, with a crest that can be expanded or contracted. The crest has a large white patch. The head is black and the sides are reddish brown.
The Hooded Mergansers feed by diving underwater to collect small fish, crustaceans or aquatic insects.
The Hooded Merganser nest in tree cavities or wood duck boxes near the water. They form pairs in early winter and the male will leave soon after the female lays her eggs. The chicks will leave the nest 24 hours after hatching, they are able to swim and dive at that time. The chicks will remain with their mother for 5 weeks.
The female Hooded Merganser has a reddish crest and the rest of the head and body is a grayish brown. The Hooded Merganser is the second smallest species of Merganser. It is also the only Merganser whose native habitat is restricted to North America.
Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's Nature Notes. Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart. Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!
For this week's Wild Bird I am featuring the Hooded Merganser. I have a few favorite ducks and the Hooded Merganser is one of them.
The male is an attractive duck, with a crest that can be expanded or contracted. The crest has a large white patch. The head is black and the sides are reddish brown.
The Hooded Mergansers feed by diving underwater to collect small fish, crustaceans or aquatic insects.
The Hooded Merganser nest in tree cavities or wood duck boxes near the water. They form pairs in early winter and the male will leave soon after the female lays her eggs. The chicks will leave the nest 24 hours after hatching, they are able to swim and dive at that time. The chicks will remain with their mother for 5 weeks.
The female Hooded Merganser has a reddish crest and the rest of the head and body is a grayish brown. The Hooded Merganser is the second smallest species of Merganser. It is also the only Merganser whose native habitat is restricted to North America.
Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's Nature Notes. Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart. Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!
59 comments:
Wonderful photos of this special duck. Amazing !
Best regards, Synnöve
A specially interesting post for me, Eileen, as I watched two Hooded Mergansers courting near Seattle. The males really are a striking duck, so thanks for sharing this post.
They really are a beautiful little Duck, and you have taken sone lovely shots, I've only seen a handfull of them, I would love to be able to view so many.
All the best Gordon.
Such cute birds! I haven't seen any yet this year.
Muito lindos! beijos,tudo de bom,chica
Distinct markings . . . would be fun for me to see! They certainly move on and into independence very fast!
Such handsome birds! Lovely photos.
What a wonderful bird this is. Great photos Eileen!
OH I LOVE the look of these guys!!!
What a unique head! I love it.
Interesting birds Eileen.
Eileen, your pictures are very beautiful.
I've never seen such unusual ducks.
Greetings.
Lucia
Such unique looking birds. I love their hoods. You captured them beautifully!
i just love the females and their crazy hair. i always think of cher in that one oscar outfit or grace jones. :)
Ηello Eileen!!Amazing photos of those beautiful ducks!!So cute birds!Great captures!!
Wish you a happy week!!Hugs!
Dimi...
Those ducks are really cool. Like your close ups.
Quite the headdress on the males!
Oh such wonderful photos - I've not been able to get good photos of the hooded merganser yet. I didn't know they nested in tree cavities - quite interesting.
There is nothing cooler than a Hoodie! Everyone stops to look at these beauties. Their markings are so so beautiful. Great shots! Spring is just around the corner.....so our Hoodies are taking off:(
Great photos of the Merganzers... I love the male ones --but the females are gorgeous also... Beautiful birds!
Hugs,
Betsy
My kids love ducks. I need to start learning species. Beautiful pics.
Marvelous shots. I have fallen in love with this duck since seeing it for the first time this year.
I can't believe how cute their head is.
brilliant images. This is one of my favorite birds as well.
Wow ! Wonderful photos !
Greetings
I think this is a unique -- and beautiful -- duck. Thanks for your wonderful photos.
this is such a gorgeous bird. Wish it could fly by my area sometimes. :)
Lovely photos, thanks for sharing.
They are pretty and very unusual looking.
Just returned from our annual boat trip to Lake Okechobee, where we saw our first and only hooded mergansers last year...I looked and looked but didn't find them this time. So thank you for sharing yours! I just love them.
What fabulous looking ducks .
Awesome shots of the Hoodies! They're one of my favorites, too. We get them here during the winter.
What an amazing hair-do!! A beauty that just does not look real!! I hope I get to see one one day!!
Great captures Eileen, I'll bet it was fun to see so many!!
Beautiful Ducks, Eileen!
HI Eileen Great shots of a very beautiful little duck.
Absolutely stunning shots Eileen.
They are pretty ducks and look like they are wearing bonnets
They are outstanding birds in their appearance Eileen. Just so unmistakeable as they are so different from other wildfowl. A bird I'd love to see but probably wont, only via your lovely photographs. Enjoy the remainder of your week.
They are such a beautiful duck. Nice work!
Beautiful pictures of the Hooded Merganser, Eileen.
Picture 1 and 4 are my favorite.
Greetings Irma
Hi Eileen---I LOVE your Hooded Merganser photos. Isn't that just a "crazy hair day"!
Most of our open water has disappeared---even the Great Lakes are frozen over. We're fortunate to have a fast moving stream down the road from us--it is one of the few places of open water around, so we've been fortunate to see a lot of ducks lately. I'm sure they don't like that FAST water, but right now it's their only choice.
But despite the frigid temps and deep deep snow, it must be spring--I'm back bothering you-LOL!
Enjoy the day
What an amazing duck, Eileen with that glorious crest. I had to look at it again and again! (quite surreal!) And the females are not half pretty too. Seeing the name on your title, I grabbed my bird book as I was sure that we have "mergansers" in Africa, but I was mistaken. Great of you to share with us. Greetings, Jo
Hum...
Weird! I was quite sure I left a comment on this post yesterday!!
Anyway, a great sighting of a species I'd die to see! :)
What a magnificent head they have!
Cheers Eileen, keep well
Fine captures of these cool ducks. I enjoy how the head patch shape changes when they fly.
Dearest Eileen;
Oh, Female Hooded Mergansers looks SO lovely with that brownish hair with round shape♡♡♡ And the shape of the head male has is really unique and cute. I love their beak♬♬♬
Hope you're having a blessed week!
Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*
such cool birds
I am just learning about so many of these birds and I really enjoy seeing this species, great set of images as always Eileen~
These ducks are beautiful. I really enjoy watching the ducks on a lake, they seem so happy in their little world.
I adore these! We had them in Muskoka. I haven't been out to view birds, but will once we get over our current health issues.
Thanks for sharing them!
(ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!
I've only seen these ducks on blogs but they are quite handsome. Love the color combo of the feathers.
I'm liking the water ripples in that last shot as well.
Hope you're having a wonderful week Eileen!
One of my favorites also. They visit my pond occasionally. MB
You love birds like i love dogs Eileen:)) i love that:)) lucky birds:))
Take care U:))
Wonderful pictures, it's a favorite of mine too.
That's a very interesting duck and quite handsome too.
I can see why you like them so much they are very beautiful.
gorgeous bird. love the coloring. you really do see some great birds. today i had to go to town for the PO ... & i saw several folks from Maryland. probably 5 ... it was wild!
how is your weather? we had a lot of melting today. so nice for a change. i think they are still calling for more snow this thursday & then 60's during the weekend. we will see. i know it changes constantly. ( :
Nice to see some hoodies here.. we have lost hundreds and hundreds of diving ducks here due to the frozen lakes and starvation..really sad....Michelle
Truly wonderful the Hooded Merganser. I've never seen one in real life but I think they are gorgeous!
Great looking birds - we don't have any of these types of duck in Australia.
I saw a Goosander (Common Merganser) in Arizona this week - which was a bird i used to see back in the UK.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
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