northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Hooded Merganser I met a couple months ago. (Admittedly the meeting was at quite a distance.) This is a male; the females have the same body shape but have coloring in the light brown and tan. Though they're supposed to be in my area year round, I've only spotted them in the colder months: November - March. Despite the name, the Hooded Merganser isn't considered a close relative of the Common Merganser; they're in different genera. I'm more likely to mix them up with the Bufflehead since both ducks have large white spots behind their eyes (though the Bufflehead wouldn't have the brown lower on the body). I would have expected ducks to be pairing up around March, though this fella's closest companion was a male Wood Duck, with some Canada Geese a little further away. I don't see a lot of these ducks (iNaturalist lists them as "vulnerable"), so maybe he simply hasn't found a mate yet. March 9, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway ...

Here are a couple Common Mergansers . Mergansers (we also have Hooded Mergansers in my area) are ducks, as are other birds like scaups, teals, eiders, widgeons, and scoters. (Geese and swans aren't ducks, but are close relatives.) The Common Merganser is one of our largest ducks. If you see them hanging around with Ring-necked Ducks, Buffleheads, or Hooded Mergansers, the Common Mergansers really stand out by their size. They are diving ducks, meaning they frequently feed by diving under the water to get to food. By contrast, our dabbling ducks basically stay at the surface to eat, even if their heads are underwater with their tails sticking out of the water (which makes an interesting-but-not-flattering picture). As a relatively large duck, they eat larger prey. They mostly eat fish. The females have light brown heads while the males are green. I'm assuming these ducks were courting; this was from almost 2 months ago, so it's possible the female is on eggs or raising duckl...