drake

Different plumage phases of Red-breasted Merganser Drakes

By Mia McPherson, on February 4th, 2013%

Male Red-breasted Merganser in breeding plumage

Awhile back someone told me (in a comment on this blog) that Mergansers don’t change their plumage seasonally, which is incorrect as all three species of mergansers that live in North America do. The image above shows a Red-breasted Merganser drake in breeding plumage, I took this image at a pond very close to where I live in Salt Lake County, Utah.

Note the very dark head, striking black and white patterns on the back of the merganser and evidence of the red breast this species gets part of its name from. Don’t you just love the shaggy, punk rock do these birds have?

Male Red-breasted Mergansers in eclipse plumage

All three of the birds in the image above are male Red-breasted Mergansers in eclipse plumage and look remarkably different than the male in breeding plumage shown above. Or maybe these mergansers are just females that got a really bad deal on smoky eye shadows at Walgreens.

Seriously they are males in eclipse plumage photographed at Fort De Soto’s north beach in Florida.

It pays to have great Bird Guides, I have plenty on a shelf right above my computer monitor and keep one in the pickup, I also have two bird guide apps on my smart phone so I can use them anywhere I am without the weight of a book. Not only can the guides help with a bird’s identification they can also help us distinguish the various plumage phases of birds or if they change seasonally.

At any rate, I’d say that these images of Red-breasted Merganser drakes show there is a seasonal change in their plumage.

Mia

More Red-breasted Merganser images

*Because of Google’s changes it Image Search and how they have begun to hotlink to my larger images I will no longer post large versions of my files on my blog.

The ID of the female duck is…

By Mia McPherson, on January 10th, 2013%

Two days ago I posted an image of a female duck taken at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area in Davis County, Utah and a quiz about her ID here.

The answer to the ID quiz is a female Green-winged Teal!

Out of 49 people taking the quiz there were 6 votes for Mallard, 8 votes for Blue-winged Teal, 9 votes for Gadwall and 26 votes for Green-winged Teal.

Why I would rule out a female Blue-winged Teal:

A female Blue-winged Teal would have a dark eye line with white arcs, a longer, dark bill and yellowish legs, the female Green-winged will not have the white eye arcs, would have a smaller thinner bill and grayish legs.

Why I would rule out a female Mallard:

A female Mallard would have an orange bill with a dark center and yellowish orange legs, the female I posted has a black bill and grayish legs.

Why I would rule out a female Gadwall:

A female Gadwall has yellow legs, a thin bill that is dark on the top and shows orange on the sides (males have a solid dark bill) and the face of a female Gadwall is lighter in color plus they lack having an eye line. The female I showed has grayish legs, a solidly dark bill and does have an eye line.

My friend Larry said this in a comment on the quiz page:

I love bird quizzes Mia and this is a tough one. I wouldn’t want to give it away in a comment but when I first started birding and asked a more experienced birder how he could tell the female ducks apart he said, “It’s easy! Just look at who she is hanging out with!”

The only male ducks my female was hanging out with were Green-winged Teal drakes, so looking at who she was hanging out with was a great help when I ID’d her too!

Green-winged Teal drake – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-4000mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

The photo above shows a drake Green-winged Teal in breeding plumage taken on the same day just a few feet away from where the female was photographed.

My thanks to everyone who participated and left your thoughts about the ID of the female duck in your comments. I had fun with this.

Mia

Male Common Merganser in nonbreeding plumage

By Mia McPherson, on November 27th, 2012%

Common Merganser male in nonbreeding plumage – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

Last week I saw quite a few Common Mergansers at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but I wasn’t able to get close enough to them to get any quality images but they reminded me of images I had been able to take of Common Mergansers several years ago at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.

This is a male Common Merganser in nonbreeding plumage, if he were in breeding plumage his sides would be nearly all white and his head a very dark green.

Mia

Ring-necked Duck Drake

By Mia McPherson, on November 23rd, 2012%

Ring-necked Duck drake – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f8, 1/800, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

I photographed this drake Ring-necked Duck in breeding plumage a few years ago on a pond not far from where I live. He was a “one day wonder”, meaning it was the only day I found him on the pond. Lesser and Great Scaup drakes look similar but Ring-necked Duck males are easy to tell apart from them because of the white outline on the bill and the white spur on the flank.

I’m able to use a tripod at this pond and get close to the birds because they are habituated to human foot traffic at the pond. I use a Carbon Fiber tripod and a Gimbal style Jobu Black Widow head.

Mia

Wood Duck drake

By Mia McPherson, on October 20th, 2012%

Wood Duck drake – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/320, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light

Just a simple Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) drake image today. I found this handsome bird chasing around mallards on Lake Seminole , he was acting territorial. I have found Wood Ducks to be a challenge to photograph because of the high contrast in their plumage coloring. I want visible detail in the blacks and the whites plus the darks need to be light enough to show the iridescence blues, greens, purples, golds and aqua. When I photographed this drake I remember wishing that we had high thin clouds to diffuse the sunlight a bit. It still worked out okay though.

Mia

*I am away from home, please feel free to share with your family & friends!