{"id":13893,"date":"2014-01-27T05:18:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T12:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=13893"},"modified":"2025-05-23T14:35:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T19:35:43","slug":"a-first-winter-male-common-merganser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/27\/a-first-winter-male-common-merganser\/","title":{"rendered":"First winter male Common Merganser"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1st1st winter Common Merganser male at Farmington Bay WMA – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I spotted a lone Common Merganser at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area nearly hidden in some phragmites and when I came around the corner the bird seemed to have disappeared. After a bit it came out from its hiding spot and gave me quite a show.<\/p>\n

When I first saw the bird my mind registered “female” because of the coloration and that adult males at this time of the year are in breeding plumage which is quite different from females.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Merganser being aggressive towards a Pied-billed Grebe\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were more than twenty Pied-billed Grebes plus one American Coot on the pond and the Common Merganser didn’t take to kindly when a Pied-billed would get to close to it.<\/p>\n

Several times I watched it behave aggressively towards the grebes and open its saw-toothed bill in a threatening manner.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Merganser getting out of the water\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After a little while the Common merganser got out of the water\u00a0near a Pied-billed Grebe that was resting on a sheet of ice along the shore of the pond.<\/p>\n

It was about this time that I noticed the clean white belly, the white speculum and how the throat was so white. With a female Common Merganser there would be gray on the throat.<\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebe looked anxious as the merganser climbed onto the ice.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Merganser biting a Pied-billed Grebe\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as the Common Merganser had its feet fully on the ice it turned towards the grebe and bit its head several times. At one point its bill covered the whole head of the grebe. I wish it had been turned more towards me so I could have gotten better eye contact.<\/p>\n

The grebe stayed right where it was and I suppose the merganser realized the grebe wasn’t a threat because the merganser soon plopped down and rested on the ice for a bit.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Merganser stretching on the shoreline\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn’t long though before the Common Merganser stood back up, stretched and entered the water again. I was hoping it might start looking for fish.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst Winter Common Merganser male\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

But it fluffed, preened and shook itself off several times. The merganser’s crest seemed fairly long and shaggy\u00a0for a Common Merganser and the eye a little bit too light.<\/p>\n

But I was focusing on photographing the bird not trying to identify the gender of it at this point.<\/p>\n

\"CommonPreening Common Merganser in a funny pose – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As long as the Pied-billed Grebes stayed away from the merganser it seemed intent on preening. While I wish the grebes weren’t in this frame I feel they do give a sense of how large and long the merganser is compared to them and I even captured one of the grebes stretching.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter male Common Merganser\u00a0– Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Common Merganser gave me several opportunities to photograph it as it flapped its wings on the icy pond…<\/p>\n

\"Wing-flappingWing-flapping Common Merganser\u00a0– Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And when it climbed back onto the sheet of ice.<\/p>\n

While reviewing my images on my screen at home I came to the conclusion that this is a first winter male Common Merganser. By next winter he will look very different when he gets his adult breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

A comparison between Red-breasted and Common mergansers can be found here<\/a><\/span>. All mergansers are diving ducks and they all have serrated bills.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of\u00a0 my Common Merganser photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I spotted a lone Common Merganser at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area nearly hidden in some phragmites and when we came around the corner the bird seemed to have disappeared but after a bit it came out from its hiding spot and gave us quite a show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,476,1022,697,135,26],"tags":[5246,10681,976,4753,4483,2450,877,707,4064,4067,4062,4705,4704,4239,4009,10682,4166,4019,10683,4752,4891,3964,3996,4489,3200,373,4193],"class_list":["post-13893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-mergansers","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-utah","tag-aggressive","tag-biting","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-first-winter","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-ice","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-plopped","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-preening-2","tag-rested","tag-serrated-bill","tag-shore","tag-stretching","tag-water","tag-wing-flap","tag-wing-flapping","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-shoreline-mia-mcpherson-7347.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3C5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18711,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/19\/a-few-winter-birds-at-farmington-bay-and-flapping-wings\/","url_meta":{"origin":13893,"position":0},"title":"A Few Winter Birds At Farmington Bay And Flapping Wings","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe when the weather clears tomorrow I'll be able to get back out Farmington Bay to photograph more birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Merganser wing flap, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-flapping-mia-mcpherson-7026.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-displaying-mia-mcpherson-8180.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44719,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/02\/photographing-common-mergansers-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":13893,"position":2},"title":"Photographing Common Mergansers at Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent time photographing a few Rough-legged Hawks but my personal choice for birds of the day were the Common Mergansers I observed and photographed.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Merganser in breeding plumage, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0141.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0141.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Merganser drake in nonbreeding plumage Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-7794.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-7794.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-7794.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-7794.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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I will explain why I only had a few minutes with the mergansers at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two immature Common Mergansers in flight, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/common-merganser-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/common-merganser-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/common-merganser-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8992.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/common-merganser-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-8992.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31574,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/03\/common-merganser-drakes-in-the-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":13893,"position":5},"title":"Common Merganser Drakes in the Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't posted any Common Mergansers lately and today I thought I would because we should start seeing them soon here in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting mature Common Merganser drake in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-9665.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-9665.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-9665.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-9665.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}