Life is changing at Brick Pond. The ducks are nesting, and in some cases, have hatched already. The GBH’s have not hatched yet but give them another week or so.
GBH in cool blue light….
I have been watching one particular species lately, the Hooded Merganser. And specifically the female. The males disappear once mating is accomplished (typical guy, huh?). Hooded Mergansers nest in tree cavities or man made nest boxes, the same as the Wood Duck. The female is a very subdued brownish-rusty color and at first glance appears to be very plain Jane in appearance. But the following pictures show a duck that has it’s own kind of beauty.
Because this is a diving duck, they use a hooked and serrated bill to catch their prey, usually fish and tadpoles and crustaceans.
An environmental portrait, just to show you these are not shot in a controlled environment!
A small duck with rather short, stubby wings, these ducks are fast and erratic flyers. Getting a good flight image of these birds is a real challenge!
Being a tree nester these birds have a short hooked claw on each toe to be able to grab the tree or nest box so they can enter the nest. This one is sitting on a nest box at Brick Pond which we think is being used by both a Merganser and a Wood Duck! This is not unusual as the Merganser is happy to let the Wood Duck do all the nesting work for them!!!
Just a little idea of what you can see at Brick Pond! These image look much better on my website, www.longcreekphotography.com You can enlarge them on the website but the email version is a fixed size. All for now, thanks for looking!!!