Common Mergansers on Lake Nelson

 

 

The lake is thawing again, just a little ice on the shady side. Common Mergansers have come back. The top shows a female being followed by a male. The bottom is three males, one starting to dive for a fish.

Northern Flicker from S. Sriram

 

Hooded Mergansers: The Great Gazoo of Ducks

 

Lake Nelson is still too frozen for our hooded mergansers, so we decided to go to Swimming River Reservoir in Monmouth County in search of them. We ran into a group of several males trying to impress a female. We don't know about her, but Chris was impressed by their displays and frog-like sounds . We really didn't get close enough for a great photo. After all of the hiking to see them, it wasn't until we were driving home that we saw three in a small pond by the side of the road. Chris got these great photos of the hooded mergansers from inside the car. Don't you think his head looks like the Great Gazoo's? Don't you love her hair?

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, Mike couldn't resist getting out of the car, scaring them away, so we went home and posted these.

Ruddy Ducks sleeping at Swimming River Reservoir

 

White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Quite the acrobats, the nuthatches are.

More Winter Birds: Pine Siskin, Downy Woodpecker, & American Goldfinch

 

 

 

We've been taking the great backyard bird count seriously this year.