Friday’s Feathered Friends- Hooded Mergansers

Posted in Bird Photography, Birding in Nevada, Birds in the Wild, PhotographyTagged , , , , ,

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I saw these in early January and since we’re on the very edge of their migration path I feel very lucky to have seen them.

The male has lovely dark coloring and a wonderful hood. During the courting season he continuously tilts his head all the way to his back and up again and back again with his hood raised as it is in this image while he swims very near the female trying to capture her as a mate. It’s called Head Throwing. He also gives her a hoarse croak. It’s pretty neat to see them courting.

Hooded Merganser Male

The female looks rather dull compared to the male but, her crown or hood is lovely too. I liked the way the sunlight lit up her hood.

Hooded Merganser Female
They were swimming somewhat far apart from each other on this morning and not interested in courting, but luckily their hoods were up.

Fun Facts:

  • Similar to other cavity-nesting ducks such as Wood Ducks, Common Mergansers, and Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers often lay eggs in nests of other ducks, both their own species and others. This is called “brood parasitism” and is similar to the practice of Brown-headed Cowbirds. In turn, other cavity-nesting duck species will parasitize Hooded Merganser nests. Female Hooded Mergansers can lay up to about 13 eggs in a clutch, but nests have been found with up to 44 eggs in them.
  • Hooded Mergansers find their prey underwater by sight. They can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a “nictitating membrane,” which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles.
  • Hooded Merganser ducklings leave their nest cavity within 24 hours of hatching. First, their mother checks the area around the nest and calls to the nestlings from ground level. From inside the nest, the little fluffballs scramble up to the entrance hole and then flutter to the ground, which may be 50 feet or more below them. In some cases they have to walk half a mile or more with their mother to the nearest body of water.
  • On the bird family tree, Hooded Mergansers (genus Lophodytes) lie between goldeneyes (Bucephala) and the other North American mergansers (Mergus). They share many courtship behaviors and calls with both of those groups.
  • The Hooded Merganser is the second-smallest of the six living species of mergansers (only the Smew of Eurasia is smaller) and is the only one restricted to North America.
  • The oldest recorded Hooded Merganser was a male and at least 14 years, 6 months old when he was shot in Mississippi in 2009. He was originally banded in Minnesota in 1995.

Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm| PS CC 24.4

I hope you all have a great week-end. If the weather permits I’ll be birding this morning and will respond when I get home. If the weather is poor I’ll be here!😀

more to come…

52 thoughts on “Friday’s Feathered Friends- Hooded Mergansers”

  1. Pingback: Reader Favorites 2024 – Circadianreflections Blog

  7. Beautiful image of these birds! The male shot looks excellent on the open blue water and. the female with a back lit hood is beautiful. I enjoyed reading the write up you did, also.

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  21. I’ve seen the Common Merganser, but I’m unsure about this one. I need to dig into my archives and see if the photo I have of a ‘strange duck’ might be this one. They’re exceedingly handsome, but not common here: at least, in the areas I visit. The backlit hood of the female is especially nice, but I really like the photo of the male. The reflection ‘makes it’ for me.

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  22. Great to see this pair of hooded mergansers, Deborah. I never ever tire of seeing this wonderful duck. I have found them to be skittish birds, so it’s great that you were able to capture these two photos.

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  24. Too bad I didn’t know about head throwing when I was young. I could’ve put it to good use.

    Here’s the American Heritage Dictionary’s etymology for merganser:

    “New Latin : Latin mergus, diver (from mergere, to plunge) + Latin ānser, goose.”

    The merg- part of the name is the same as in submerge.

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