ML479844771

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Hen with six chicks [edit for chick count (from five to six while reviewing photographs]. A bit of a nightmarish day was suddenly transformed into one of the best days of my atlasing experience over these 5 years when I finally found what I had been looking for all day (my second attempt, no less). After spotting some COME hens hauled out on a rock flush east, I rounded into a sheltered bay between small rocky islands and got a quick look at another more slender merganser hen who quickly darted around the rock for cover, but importantly did not fly away. I worked my way around the sloping rock and got hung up in a shallow. I used this as a chance to quickly get my camera out and ready. Paddling with the choppy water, I spotted the hen and five young birds moving around the island and heading back in the direction I had just come from. At this point, I got a good look at the hen and was certain it was a RBME. The bird had a long and narrow orange-red bill (lightly brown tinged upper mandible), faint white spectacles starting at the base of the bill, a fringy crest, orangish-brown plumage on the head which showed a gradual fade to white on the chin and breast, and gray body. The hen dove and resurfaced away from the ducklings who were peeping incessantly and moving together as a tight group. The hen moved further out and around the island while the young birds passed back towards me, coming within just a few feet and settling in a small sheltered cove. I moved away and re-encountered the hen who dove, resurfaced, and flew back around the island to the area where the ducklings were sheltered. Keeping wide berth, I passed back around the point and saw that the group had reunited and we’re together under the shelter of over hanging vegetation. While I wrote this report, they passed back around a small island to the point where I first saw them. Photographed extensively.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D850

Lens

60.0-600.0 mm f/4.5-6.3

ISO

1100

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

3079 pixels x 2199 pixels

Original file size

2.27 MB