Hooded Merganser / Lophodytes cucullatus

This is the closest I've ever been to a Hooded Merganser - though this is a highly zoomed and greatly cropped image. This is a male Hooded Merganser in breeding plumage - it has a circular crest with large white patch, outlined in black, which can be raised (as in my photo) or lowered. Took a short walk at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary yesterday morning with a few friends and almost at the end of our walk, a pair of these ducks flew in and landed on the lagoon. It was a beautiful morning once the sun came out. When I checked the weather forecast yesterday, snow was forecast for seven of the next 10 days, so I thought I'd better get out for a walk in case that does happen.

Can you imagine having heavy snow falling - when you've just been through a devastating 9.0 earthquake, an even more horrific tsunami, have lost some or all family and friends and neighbours, and now have the threat of severe nuclear radiation hanging over your head? And the rest of us (me included!) complain about deep freezes and snow! How lucky so many of us are, with a warm roof over our head, enough food at hand, and no sudden, massive loss of loved ones in our lives!!!

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Merganser