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's a pair of Wood Ducks I met earlier in the month. I hiked from the Raritan River Greenway into Duke Island Park and was surprised to see this drake and duck hanging out pretty close to me/others. Generally I consider the Wood Duck to be fairly leery of people, and with more secluded places near the Raritan River and the Raritan Power Canal I wouldn't have expected to see them in such a small body of water in the middle of the park. My guess is they were there either because there's more food here than elsewhere, or maybe the female has found a tree cavity (or nesting box) that she's got an eye on for when she lays eggs. April 5, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 120291482, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)