May 19, 2013 - Waterfowl

This is a male Hooded Merganser, one of our more spectacular looking ducks. In this photo, he has his crest fully raised in a courtship display. Hooded Mergansers eat small fish and crustaceans and are excellent divers. Their bills have serrated edges which help them grasp slippery fish. All of today’s photos were taken at the Coon Rapids Dam just north of the Twin Cities.

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In this photo of the male and female Hooded Merganser, the male’s crest is folded down. “Hoodies,” as they are often called by birders, prefer wooded areas around lakes, ponds, and marshes where they nest in tree cavities. At our home in northern Minnesota, we put out two nest boxes that are intended for Wood Ducks. However, these boxes are just as often used by Hooded Mergansers.

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This rear view of a male Hooded Merganser shows the thin black line down the back of his hood. The white stripes formed by the edges of his wing feathers also show an interesting pattern.

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Here’s a pair of Redheads (male on the left). I learned something new about this species from the book Lives of North American Birds. It said that many ducks lay eggs in the nests of other ducks, but Redheads carry this to an extreme. This behavior is known as parasitism. Not only do they lay eggs in the nests of other Redheads, but they have been known to parasitize the nests of 10 other duck species as well. There are even records of Redheads laying eggs in the nests of an American Bittern and, of all things, a Northern Harrier!

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This is a Pied-billed Grebe. It’s in breeding plumage, but the only change from its winter plumage is the black ring on the bill and the black “chin.” That doesn’t compare to the spectacular breeding plumage of the Horned Grebe (see Pictures of the Week from April 28) but this is still a cute little grebe. It is only 13” long, slightly more than half the length of a mallard.

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Ring-billed Gulls will eat just about anything. It looks like this one found a pretzel which is on its way “down the hatch.”

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