{"id":6652,"date":"2012-11-27T04:59:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T11:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6652"},"modified":"2025-05-24T06:38:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T11:38:54","slug":"male-common-merganser-in-nonbreeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/27\/male-common-merganser-in-nonbreeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Common Merganser in nonbreeding plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CommonCommon Merganser male in nonbreeding plumage – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week I saw quite a few Common Mergansers at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but I wasn’t able to get close enough to them to get any quality images but they reminded me of images I had been able to take of Common Mergansers several years ago at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.<\/p>\n

This is a male Common Merganser in nonbreeding plumage, if he were in breeding plumage his sides would be nearly all white and his head a very dark green.<\/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":"

Last week I saw quite a few Common Mergansers at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but I wasn’t able to get close enough to them to get any quality images but they reminded me of images I had been able to take of Common Mergansers several years ago at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146611,"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":[27,476,1022,697,26],"tags":[976,4483,4062,4094,4704,4239,4246,4519,4095],"class_list":["post-6652","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-utah","tag-common-merganser","tag-drake","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-mergansers","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-saw-bill","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-7794.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Ji","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2122,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/03\/20\/common-and-red-breasted-mergansers\/","url_meta":{"origin":6652,"position":0},"title":"Common and Red-breasted Mergansers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Mergansers are considered \"diving ducks\" and one of the things the three species of mergansers found in North America all have in common are their serrated bills.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult nonbreeding Common Merganser in Utah, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-9392.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-9392.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-mia-mcpherson-9392.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-9392.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110339,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/17\/dapper-drake-common-merganser-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":6652,"position":1},"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 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0141.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-breeding-mia-mcpherson-0141.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":6652,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":35466,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/10\/a-bathing-common-merganser-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":6652,"position":4},"title":"Bathing Common Merganser at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There isn't much open water right now but in a few places where it is open it attracts waterfowl including this bathing Common Merganser male in breeding plumage.","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 male in breeding plumage at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1611.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-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1611.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1611.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-merganser-male-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1611.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":6652,"position":5},"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, 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