Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Common Merganser

Tonight, I am all up-to-date again, apart from the rest of my Texas trip images. These 17 images were taken on a quick visit to a wetland within the city. I never seem to get there at a good time of day, meaning that there were not all that many ducks nearby, and the edge of the wetland was in shadow. I saw enough to make the trip worthwhile, though. Common Grackles are birds I love to see and photograph and the one in my photos caught a tiny fish. Two or three tiny Coot babies were out for a swim, and I managed to rescue a couple of photos that really should have been deleted. While I was standing there, a couple and their daughter came by and asked if I knew what the bird was that was hanging out in the shade of the bushes by the water. They didn't think it was a Great Blue Heron because its neck was so short. It took me a while to find the bird and, when I zoomed in, I was able to confirm that it was a Black-crowned Night-Heron. Our weather has been ridiculously mixed recently, from sunshine to storms and flooding. The clouds were quite spectacular when I was at the wetland.

This morning, I am posting three more photos taken with the Nikon B700. Yesterday, 24 April 2018, I went for a morning walk in Carburn Park with a group of friends, hoping to see a few things to photograph. Late last night, I posted on Facebook about the huge issue I am having with this replacement camera, with images suddenly jumping upward, downward and to the side when I press the shutter button. I received a very helpful comment form someone, suggesting I try using the zoom lever on the side of the camera, instead of the zoom on the top. I had never used the side zoom on any camera that I have owned. As it was getting on for midnight, I only tried a series of shots indoors, but it seemed to work much better. Today, I will again have to do some more testing. "Common Mergansers are streamlined ducks that float gracefully down small rivers or shallow shorelines. The males are striking with clean white bodies, dark green heads, and a slender, serrated red bill. The elegant gray-bodied females have rich, cinnamon heads with a short crest. In summer, look for them leading ducklings from eddy to eddy along streams or standing on a flat rock in the middle of the current. These large ducks nest in hollow trees; in winter they form flocks on larger bodies of water." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/overview It was great to see a group of American White Pelicans near the edge of the river. I don't know if this was the same group I saw recently, just at a different location. Somehow, even after years of seeing these spectacular birds in the city, I still find it strange. They just look so exotic. Not the best light to photograph them, but it was good to see that the whites were not blown out and the white feathers had plenty of detail. Our crazy, crazy weather! Yesterday, I believe the temperature got up to about 20C. Of course, I wouldn't dream of saying that I was too warm before the end of the walk, lol. Not after the dreadful winter we have just survived. Just checked the forecast and I see it says 21C, 23C and 26C for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I still have a large snowdrift in my backyard!

Yesterday afternoon, 11 June 2017, I decided to join a few friends for a walk in Weaselhead. No rain was forecast, so I thought I had better make the most of it. We were hoping to see the three species of Hummingbird, but the Rufous stayed hidden. We only had a very distant look at a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a very fleeting look at a tiny Calliope Hummingbird, when it flew past us like a huge bumblebee, and disappeared from sight. Still good to see them,, though. The Merganser family in this photo was such a delight to see. Mom had just these four babies and they were so cute. We also saw another Merganser family with eight ducklings. I have added our leaders' list of species seen, in a comment box below. We were pleased to see a pair of Eastern Phoebes in their usual place. One of the birds had a piece of fishing line in its beak - photo posted this morning. It is such a distant photo, so the quality is poor, making it impossible to enlarge and be able to tell if it was caught or just being carried to perhaps add to their nest. The bird kept flying around and the fishing line stayed in place. I do hope the the nylon line had not got tangled around the bird somehow. Fishermen need to be far more careful and not discard any unwanted line - wildlife pays the price! Simple enough - just take it home with you! As well as birds, we saw quite a few species of wildflower. There were so many beautiful wild Roses in bloom. "Common Mergansers are streamlined ducks that float gracefully down small rivers or shallow shorelines. The males are striking with clean white bodies, dark green heads, and a slender, serrated red bill. The elegant gray-bodied females have rich, cinnamon heads with a short crest. In summer, look for them leading ducklings from eddy to eddy along streams or standing on a flat rock in the middle of the current. These large ducks nest in hollow trees; in winter they form flocks on larger bodies of water." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/id

A heavily cropped shot of a male Common Merganser, taken on 22 April 2014, along the Bow River at Carburn Park.

Usually when I see Common Mergansers, they are far, far away, but yesterday I got lucky with this female when she swam past us, with her mate, on the creek in Fish Creek Park. Taken on 28 April 2013, near Hull's Wood. These birds sure can move fast .

From my archives, a Common Merganser female seen at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary on 19 June 2011. I rarely see these birds out of the water, so this was a chance to see her feet. Always have to smile at the spiked hairdo of these females.

We were lucky enough to see this pair of beautiful Common Mergansers swimming in liquid silver in the creek at Griffith Woods yesterday morning. Not sure why their eyes came out like this - looks almost as if I used flash - but these ducks were way in the distance. Fully zoomed and heavily cropped : ) Though the morning started off overcast, the sun eventually came out and it was just beautiful out. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/id/ac en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Merganser

Not a good shot of the female Common Merganser, but I love the water patterns : ) Taken yesterday at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

I startled this family of Common Mergansers this afternoon and Mom took off with all her babies in tow.

Common Mergansers always seem so skittish, I find. This female and her young ones had been out of sight by the bank of an inlet in Weaselhead, but were startled when I came walking along the path.

This female Common Merganser was watching the world go by for a moment, perched on a rock in the Bow River. These females always look as if they are having "a bad hair day", thanks to the crest on their head. Though not as striking as the males, the females stil have a variety of colour and patterns.