Hooded mergansers are back in the Wetlands. A handful of the fish eating waterfowl showed up over the weekend. I counted three males and a female this morning (11/7). While taking photos of the mergs, and just plain watching the birds swim about this morning, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small, dark duck come in for a landing. I assumed it was a female merg coming in to join the others and went back toRead more
Posts tagged: #Hooded Merganser
Hooded Merganser Nest
Unfortunately, the mergansers in the above photo do not reside in our Wetlands. I saw a report on the local bird listerv that a couple of broods of wood ducks and one merganser brood was seen at Sandy Creek Park on the south side of Durham. The park is located at the end of Sandy Creek Drive on the northwest side of the intersection of Hwy 15-501 and Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, just shy of 8 driving miles distance from theRead more
Female Redhead
In a recent post I highlighted two pair of Redheads that dropped into the Wetlands for the day. The following day the birds were gone, presumably continuing on to wherever it was they were originally heading. A line of heavy storms moved through our area on Friday, two days after the four redheads were with us. Soon after the heaviest of the rain passed, I noticed a lone redhead swimming in our Wetlands, a female. There’s no way to knowRead more
What will the weather bring us?
Weather systems often bring in unusual birds. Strong cold fronts sometimes carry with them birds from the far north. Unusually cold weather creates strong needs within birds to feed, simple survival is the name of the game. During extreme cold periods you often see birds at your feeders that are absent during mild weather especially when the leaf litter is covered with snow. On Thursday, a day when upon awaking from a three dog night, the air temperature was aRead more
Warm and Wet
The past few days have been rather warm and humid, if not rainy. That will all change soon, there’s colder air moving our way. But until that cold front rolls over us, enjoy the warmth as some of our wildlife has been. I don’t think the warmer weather matters very much to the mergansers, as long as the water doesn’t freeze and they can get at the fish and tadpoles beneath the surface, they’re happy. The mergansers above seem toRead more
Lost Dinner
As I walked down the boardwalk into Explore the Wild, I noticed nine or so mergansers fishing for bullfrog tadpoles next to the boardwalk at the point where in goes to pavement. One of the birds was violently shaking something in its bill. I thought it a tadpole and tried to capture an image of the bird swallowing the amphibian. I watched as the bird shook the object and then drop it in the water, apparently to reposition it forRead more
Who’s afraid of a little rain?
It began to rain towards the end of the day last Friday. It had been threatening to do so all day and finally did around 3 o’clock that afternoon. People tend to clear out of the area when the rain starts in earnest. However, the wildlife is still there to see. The Great Blue Heron, bullfrogs, and Hooded Mergansers are not bothered in the least by the rain. In fact, the birds seem more active when it does rain. The reasonRead more
Great Blue, the Moon, Seeds Ready to Fly, a new Ode, and a Returnee
Hidden most of the day, our Great Blue Heron can often be seen on the far side of the Wetlands waiting for us humans to leave for the day. The skies were clear most of last week providing the opportunity to see the waxing gibbous moon each morning. Groundsel Tree is nearly ready to cast its seeds to the wind. Last week I spotted a new species of dragonfly here at the Museum, a Blue-faced Meadowhawk. I see Autumn MeadowhawksRead more
Flash!
A single male Hooded Merganser has arrived in the Wetlands. This is the first merg of the season and a bit early. Typically, the second week of November is when I start to look for them. If I don’t see any by the third week of the month I start to worry. No need to worry, they’re here.Read more