{"id":118413,"date":"2023-11-21T04:45:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T11:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=118413"},"modified":"2023-11-21T04:45:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T11:45:56","slug":"drake-hooded-merganser-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/21\/drake-hooded-merganser-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Hooded Merganser Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Once upon a chilly December evening, I had a blast photographing a stunning drake Hooded Merganser in gorgeous light at an urban pond close to home. I had eight minutes and 24 seconds with this handsome diving duck according to the EXIF information contained in my photos of this bird.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser in evening light \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent yesterday backing up images that I took in 2019 because one of the hard drives the files from that year were on was failing. I bought a new drive yesterday morning and spent the day moving my archived images. These Hooded Merganser files were among those photos. Seeing them again brought back some nice memories.<\/p>\n

Hooded Mergansers are small diving mergansers I only see here in northern Utah during their nonbreeding season.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser up close \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, I don’t have Hooded Mergansers in my viewfinder as often as I do the two other species of mergansers found in Northern Utah. I see Common and Red-breasted Mergansers more frequently.<\/p>\n

I am always thrilled to have these mergansers in my viewfinder. Having a drake Hooded Merganser in view in his finest breeding plumage was and is a joy for me.<\/p>\n

This drake’s chestnut colored flanks, yellow eyes, and black and white crest seemed to glow in the warm evening light.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser splashing after landing \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I only had a little over eight minutes with this Hooded Merganser<\/span><\/a>, I made the best of the time I had with him and took several hundred photos of him moving around my local pond.<\/p>\n

I keep hoping to find more of these mergansers close to home. Fingers crossed!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Hooded Merganser photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a chilly December evening, I had a blast photographing a stunning drake Hooded Merganser in gorgeous light at an urban pond close to home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,6932,709,26],"tags":[970,4142,4753,4483,126,4433,4620,6934,4123,6933,4062,4705,4704,1984,4046,2688,6707,3996,2063],"class_list":["post-118413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-hooded-mergansers","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-close-up","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-ducks-2","tag-evening-light","tag-fall","tag-hooded-merganser","tag-landing","tag-lophodytes-cucullatus","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-splashing","tag-up-close","tag-water","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t