Hooded Mergansers
A few hooded mergansers, small fish-,insect- and crayfish-eating ducks of wooded ponds, can be found year round in northern New England, but their numbers swell in March and April, when many migrant birds return to breed, and others stop over on their way further north. Standing dead trees, or snags, provide nesting cavities for these beautiful, “hammerhead” crested ducks. (Male hooded merganser on left and female on right in photograph.)
Oh how extraordinary they look!
March 21, 2012 at 1:04 pm
I agree. I can’t think of a more beautiful duck than the male hooded merganser…
March 21, 2012 at 6:10 pm