{"id":54931,"date":"2018-11-08T05:56:34","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T12:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54931"},"modified":"2025-05-24T04:20:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T09:20:35","slug":"common-mergansers-lifting-off-in-sweet-golden-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/08\/common-mergansers-lifting-off-in-sweet-golden-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Mergansers Lifting Off In Sweet Golden Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoTwo Common Mergansers running to lift off in golden light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The last couple of days have been rather hectic for me and my hope is that things will settle down and that I will be back out in the field most mornings. Today is the coldest day of autumn so far in the valley and I anticipate that the colder temps will bring in more winter birds. Two days ago when I was out I saw my first of the year American Tree Sparrows<\/span><\/a> at Farmington Bay WMA and that delighted me even though I wasn’t able to take any photos of them. Seeing the tree sparrows near the marsh reminded me that before long the Common Mergansers will make their appearance here in the valley. I checked on eBird this morning and see that some Common Mergansers are being sighted nearby, some were even seen on East Canyon Reservoir a few days ago which isn’t that far away from where I live as birds fly.<\/p>\n

I’m fortunate that I live near two ponds here in Salt Lake City where I can find Common Mergansers at this time of the year and I appreciate being able to photograph them so close to home. Last winter I had many opportunities with this species and took advantage of that every chance I could.\u00a0 The light is better on the ponds in the afternoon and evening for bird photography and just before the sun sets the golden light can be spectacular.<\/p>\n

I love being able to get close to the Common Mergansers because of the fine details I can show in my photos but there are times when I am glad that they are further away from me and those times include landings and lift offs because the distance reduces the chances that I will clip important parts of the birds during the fast and sometimes unpredictable action.<\/p>\n

In the photo above I was happy to have two of the immature Common Mergansers running to lift off while an adult female was stationary on the water in front of them.<\/p>\n

Note: The adult female only has one, solid white spot on her chin and the white chin spots of immature Common Mergansers are divided by a streak of cinnamon colored feathers in the midst of the white feathers which can be better seen in the photo below.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Mergansers running across the water \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo shows the same two immature Common Mergansers after they had passed the stationary female on the water. These mergansers move very quickly when they are running to take off and at times they are very challenging for me to track with my long lens but I believe the struggle is worth it when I can get action photos like these especially in such sweet, golden light.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I’m fortunate that I live near two ponds here in Salt Lake City where I can find Common Mergansers at this time of the year and I appreciate being able to photograph them so close to home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,476,709,117,26],"tags":[5554,976,4753,1129,126,4433,4254,4123,4282,4944,4705,4704,4239,1984,4148,5493,8018,3996,2063],"class_list":["post-54931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-mergansers","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-ducks","category-utah","tag-afternoon-light","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-evening-light","tag-golden-light","tag-landing","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-pond","tag-running","tag-sliding","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-mergansers-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-2795.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ehZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119702,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/15\/common-mergansers-and-remote-controlled-harassment\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":0},"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, 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":118413,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/21\/drake-hooded-merganser-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":1},"title":"Drake Hooded Merganser Memory","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Hooded Merganser splashing after landing, Salt Lake County, 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":119774,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/17\/urban-hooded-merganser-drake\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":2},"title":"Urban Hooded Merganser Drake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to Shane Smith, neighbor, friend, and budding bird photographer, I photographed this drake Hooded Merganser two days ago at one of our local ponds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban drake Hooded Merganser, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-urban-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/31\/common-merganser-portrait-with-water-droplets\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":3},"title":"Common Merganser Portrait With Water Droplets","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A simple portrait of a Common Merganser, featuring water droplets and a bow wave, is what I wanted to share this morning. The photo was 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 portrait with water droplets and a bow wave, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/common-merganser-spring-urban-pond-mia-mcpherson-4183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/common-merganser-spring-urban-pond-mia-mcpherson-4183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/common-merganser-spring-urban-pond-mia-mcpherson-4183.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/common-merganser-spring-urban-pond-mia-mcpherson-4183.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50351,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/28\/common-mergansers-landing-lifting-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":4},"title":"Common Mergansers Landing & Lifting Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm over the moon that I was able to photograph these Common Mergansers landing and lifting off from the pond yesterday and I am pleased with the photos I took.","rel":"","context":"In "Common Mergansers"","block_context":{"text":"Common Mergansers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/ducks\/common-mergansers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Mergansers in flight in front of Mount Olympus, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-mergansers-flight-mia-mcpherson-2315.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-mergansers-flight-mia-mcpherson-2315.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-mergansers-flight-mia-mcpherson-2315.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-mergansers-flight-mia-mcpherson-2315.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110602,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/01\/hen-common-merganser-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":54931,"position":5},"title":"Hen Common Merganser At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I photographed this hen Common Merganser in a small spot of open water next to an ice shelf at Bear River MBR. 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