ML132912641

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

While scanning the lagoon, I spotted an adult male merganser swimming along the west shore and Dick soon located a female in close association. Shortly later, two birds landed in the middle of the lagoon and a quick check revealed that they too were female-plumaged mergansers, which eventually flew away from us before landing in the northern part of the lagoon. I saw the male clearly and in good light, though at moderate distance, but my views of the females were not quite as good. All four birds were small ducks with slim and relatively short bills and crests. The male initially had its crest laid flat backward, but it also raised the crest in a display, when it had an almost semicircular shape as it extended back from a steep forehead. The females had steep foreheads and upwardly angled crowns with fuzzy crests extending backward. The male was boldly marked and brightly colored, with the black of the face, forehead, and crown contrasting sharply with the white of the central part of the crest. As such, when the crest was lowered, the white appeared as a narrow stripe between the black of the crown and the sides of the face, but when the crest was erected, the extensively white center was framed only narrowly with black. The breast and sides were white, but with a vertical bar of black separating the two, and the flanks were bright rufous. The back and what was visible of the closed wings was mostly black but with some white markings above. The eyes were bright yellow and, as I recall, the bill was black. The apparent females were generally brown overall, but with the crest and maybe also the sides of the face a slightly lighter and warmer shade of brown that contrasted weakly with the dark chocolate-brown that characterized the body and wings. I briefly saw the two females in flight, but my views of the flying birds were not very good. I thought I may have seen whitish patches in the wings, but I could not be sure. I failed to note the soft-part colors of the females.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

495 pixels x 354 pixels

Original file size

196.48 KB