Back view of a drake Common Merganser, Salt Lake County, UtahBack view of a drake Common Merganser – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

At the end of my Ring-billed Gull post yesterday I said “The radar/satellite looks promising this morning so maybe I will be able to get out into the field to look for some birds today!” and it did look good until I went out to my Jeep before daylight, looked overhead and saw thick clouds that were visible even in the dark as a fog swirled around me. It was just too nasty to drive miles & miles and try to locate birds to photograph in extremely low light and fog. I was fairly disappointed.

Later in the morning I drove down to the local pond to see if any new birds had come in and way off on the other side of the pond in the fog I saw what I could swear were two male Common Mergansers.  I didn’t have binocs or my bird camera set up with me to make sure but my eye sight is pretty keen so I will trust them. Those two mergansers are my first of the season. Hopefully more will show up soon.

I took this photo two winters ago on the local pond and I liked it because even though the view of the drake Common Merganser was taken of its back the merganser turned his head and gave me a great view of his eye. I also liked the deep blue wake he created on the water as he moved away.

So, the weather looks like it might be okay to get out into the field this morning but today I won’t get my hopes up until it gets a bit lighter outside. Even if it turns out to be awful light I may head down to the pond later with my gear to see if I can relocate the mergansers I saw yesterday.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Common Merganser photos plus facts and information about this species.