{"id":50520,"date":"2018-01-06T05:34:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50520"},"modified":"2025-05-24T04:04:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T09:04:40","slug":"drake-common-merganser-in-flight-in-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/06\/drake-common-merganser-in-flight-in-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Common Merganser In Flight In Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakeDrake Common Merganser in flight in evening light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t see Common Mergansers here in northern Utah much during their breeding season but I do see them quite often from late fall, through the winter and into late spring. I see them during the summer and early fall when I visit Montana in alpine lakes.<\/p>\n

Last evening I saw a few Common Mergansers at the local pond including drakes in breeding plumage, one of the drakes caught a large fish and swallowed it but I wasn’t able to obtain high quality images of that action because the bird was so far away. There were also some drake mergansers that flew in over the pond but didn’t actually land, they zoomed in and out very quickly.<\/p>\n

One of the drake Common Mergansers I saw yesterday flew over the pond and past me close enough for me to take two photos of it up close in the late evening light. I wish that the light had been strong enough to pick up the green iridescence of his head more than it shows in my photo but I was happy to get this image of him flying by because I have found these birds are very challenging to track & photograph in flight. The clouds behind the bird were starting to glow pink from the setting sun when I photographed it.<\/p>\n

I’m always happy to see these saw-billed ducks and even more delighted when I can take photos of them in flight.<\/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":"

One of the drake Common Mergansers I saw yesterday flew over the pond and past me close enough for me to take two photos of it up close in the late evening light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146526,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,476,709,26],"tags":[4053,976,4753,4483,126,4433,4052,4122,4062,4705,4704,4239,8018,2063,373],"class_list":["post-50520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-mergansers","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-ducks-2","tag-evening-light","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-flight-mia-mcpherson-1851.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-d8Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110339,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/17\/dapper-drake-common-merganser-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":50520,"position":0},"title":"Dapper Drake Common Merganser At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing photos of a dapper drake Common Merganser in his finest breeding plumage that I took four mornings ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bathing Common Merganser drake, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-merganser-winter-ice-drake-mia-mcpherson-3751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-merganser-winter-ice-drake-mia-mcpherson-3751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-merganser-winter-ice-drake-mia-mcpherson-3751.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/common-merganser-winter-ice-drake-mia-mcpherson-3751.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109742,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/20\/urban-drake-common-merganser-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":50520,"position":1},"title":"Urban Drake Common Merganser Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I can be way too picky when it comes to sharing my images. Today I'll explain why with these urban drake Common Merganser photos taken at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Merganser drake about to dive, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/common-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-0156.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/common-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-0156.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/common-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-0156.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/common-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-0156.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119702,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/15\/common-mergansers-and-remote-controlled-harassment\/","url_meta":{"origin":50520,"position":2},"title":"Common Mergansers And Remote Controlled Harassment","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed these Common Mergansers at my local pond three years ago today. 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, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/hooded-merganser-drake-mia-mcpherson-5141.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/hooded-merganser-drake-mia-mcpherson-5141.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/hooded-merganser-drake-mia-mcpherson-5141.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/hooded-merganser-drake-mia-mcpherson-5141.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":77850,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/16\/winter-common-mergansers\/","url_meta":{"origin":50520,"position":4},"title":"Winter Common Mergansers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday and the day before I was able to observe and photograph winter Common Mergansers at my local pond on both sunny afternoons.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult female Common Merganser drinking water, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-adult-female-drinking-mia-mcpherson-7908.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-adult-female-drinking-mia-mcpherson-7908.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-adult-female-drinking-mia-mcpherson-7908.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-adult-female-drinking-mia-mcpherson-7908.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61891,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/06\/common-mergansers-whats-in-a-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":50520,"position":5},"title":"Common Mergansers – What’s In A Name?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes I wonder how birds get their names, especially the birds with \"Common\" in their names such as Common Mergansers.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening Common Merganser, Salt Lake County, 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