{"id":55680,"date":"2019-01-14T05:28:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T12:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55680"},"modified":"2024-01-17T09:56:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T16:56:42","slug":"hen-and-drake-hooded-mergansers-with-and-without-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/14\/hen-and-drake-hooded-mergansers-with-and-without-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Hen and Drake Hooded Mergansers With and Without Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AlertAlert drake Hooded Merganser – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The fog cleared and the sun came out yesterday afternoon and I went out looking for birds and to my surprise I found some and realized I haven’t forgotten how to use my camera. The birds I photographed the most yesterday were a pair of Hooded Mergansers that were actively foraging for prey most of the time I had them in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

I found these mergansers to be a bit more skittish than the other ducks on the pond and they also seemed to go into alert mode faster too. This drake went on alert when someone jogged past on the road.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser in a pond with wild reflections – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When the runner left the male Hooded Merganser relaxed some. I thought the reflections on the water in this spot looked rather wild. The male was about to dive under the water when I took this which is why his crest is flattened.<\/p>\n

\"HenHen Hooded Merganser side view – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The hen Hooded Mergansers are less flashy but still have that wonderful crest that they can move up and down which causes it to look different. The bill of the females is dark on top and darkish yellow on the bottom.<\/p>\n

\"HoodedHooded Merganser Hen with water dripping from her bill – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This female Hooded Merganser dove often for prey yesterday. These small mergansers don’t seem to splash as much when they dive as Common and Red-breasted Mergansers do. Here a little breeze was blowing the crest of the hen forward.<\/p>\n

\"HenHen Hooded Merganser in profile – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this photo the breeze had stopped and her crest was all fluffed up. Right after this photo was taken the hen dove under the water again in search of prey.<\/p>\n

The only prey I saw these mergansers take yesterday were Weather Loaches which are introduced, invasive species from East Asia. They are also known as Pond and Dojo Loaches.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Hooded Merganser with a Weather Loach – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this photo the drake Hooded Merganser is dispatching a Weather Loach in a hurry so the hen doesn’t snatch it from him. Later on I saw her snatch a larger loach from him but he was able to snatch it back from her. I wish they had been closer than they were when that happened.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Hooded Merganser with a Weather Loach in his bill – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Here the male has another Weather Loach in his bill, this image was taken not long after he surfaced with his prey and he was shaking it around. These mergansers swallow their prey whole.<\/p>\n

\"HoodedHooded Merganser female with a Weather Loach – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The female Hooded Merganser was a great huntress and bought prey to the surface more often than the male did while I photographed this pair yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

It was wonderful to see sunshine, have good light and birds in my viewfinder yesterday afternoon and these Hooded Mergansers were a joy to photograph. I’m sure I will share more photos of them in the future.<\/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":"

The birds I photographed the most yesterday were a pair of Hooded Mergansers that were actively foraging for prey most of the time I had them in my viewfinder. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119837,"comment_status":"closed","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":[27,6932,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,4753,4483,1129,126,4070,4136,4359,6934,6933,4062,4705,4704,10698,1984,4106,8018,5526,373],"class_list":["post-55680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-hooded-mergansers","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-female","tag-foraging","tag-hen","tag-hooded-merganser","tag-lophodytes-cucullatus","tag-male","tag-merganser","tag-mergansers","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-prey","tag-urban","tag-weather-loach","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-male-weather-loach-mia-mcpherson-1100.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eu4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119774,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/17\/urban-hooded-merganser-drake\/","url_meta":{"origin":55680,"position":0},"title":"Urban 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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month I stopped to take photos of a drake Hooded Merganser floating on the Bear River before the sun lit up that part of the 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":"Low light drake Hooded Merganser on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/hooded-merganser-drake-on-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9437.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/hooded-merganser-drake-on-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9437.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":"Hooded Merganser drake swimming by, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-swimming-by-mia-mcpherson-5015.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-swimming-by-mia-mcpherson-5015.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-swimming-by-mia-mcpherson-5015.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hooded-merganser-drake-swimming-by-mia-mcpherson-5015.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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