{"id":55252,"date":"2018-12-09T05:23:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T12:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55252"},"modified":"2025-05-24T04:12:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T09:12:58","slug":"back-view-of-a-drake-common-merganser-in-salt-lake-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/09\/back-view-of-a-drake-common-merganser-in-salt-lake-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Back View Of A Drake Common Merganser In Salt Lake County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BackBack view of a drake Common Merganser – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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!”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

So, the weather looks like it might<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

Life is 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 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146532,"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":[27,476,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,976,4753,4483,1129,126,4062,4705,4704,4239,1984,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-55252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-mergansers","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-common-merganser","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-drake-from-behind-mia-mcpherson-5828.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ena","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118413,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/21\/drake-hooded-merganser-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":55252,"position":0},"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":109742,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/20\/urban-drake-common-merganser-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":55252,"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":55252,"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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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, 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