Top Photo: One of four mergansers that arrived on October 31, 2013 in our wetlands. The photo above was of the earliest hooded merganser arrivals I have on record here at the museum. This year’s first-of-the-year (FOY) hooded merganser arrived November 3, and as is often the case with a lone first arrival, he stayed close to the water’s edge and under the brush on the far side of the wetlands. More should be arriving soon.Read more
Posts tagged: #waterflowl
Canada Geese Back In Wetlands
Each year during February a pair of Canada geese shows up in our wetland. They’re here to mate and nest. Geese are typically noisy birds, but the pair doesn’t necessarily upset the quiet solitude of the wetlands. In fact, their presence enhances the experience of the swampy woodland. For the past several years, two pair have vied for the right to nest in out little pond. When the pairs clash, the erstwhile solitude of the wetlands quickly becomes a raucousRead more
Mergansers Are Back
I saw the first hooded merganser of the season on Saturday, 2 November here in our wetlands. It was a single male. Today, three days later, there are seven of the fish eating, diving waterfowl. Besides fish, hooded mergansers eat aquatic insects, amphibians, crustaceans (that includes the invasive, dreaded, red swamp crayfish), mollusks and even some vegetation. Here in our wetlands the mergs typically arrive by mid November, with an occasional visitor in the latter part of October being theRead more
Hoodeds Have Arrived!
This past Tuesday, I suggested that our wintering hooded mergansers will arrive “any day now.” They have arrived! Well, one of them has arrived. A lone male was seen this morning (Sat. 10/31) on the far side of the Wetlands, and what an eyesome creature he is. Stay tuned, others can’t be far behind. Happy waterfowling! Update: As I walked through the Wetlands an hour after posting this, I noticed two more drakes for a total of three male mergansers. Also, sawRead more