Red-Breasted Mergansers are high energy birds that migrate in the winter to our coastline from Canada. Whenever I see them, they are always busy diving and looking for food. They have to eat 15 to 20 fish a day and must spend 4 to 5 hours every day diving for fish!
I usually wait until they surface to photograph them, and as a result they have a constant wet look with water beading all over their faces and bodies. Both male and female birds have the spiky and shaggy head prized by some young people today.
Red-breasted Mergansers, female behind male.
Male Red-breasted Merganser.
Female Red-breasted Merganser.
Female Red-breasted Merganser.
Male Red-breasted Merganser.
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I love when I can catch a pair of birds, great job on the capture of them!
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Thank you John!
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Wonderful birds and photos Hien. Very cool hair dos … They have that ‘busy’ look about them 🙂
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They do have that busy look, like they just got out of the showers and have to hurry up for work. Thank you Julie!
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Late for work I would say 😉
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Great looking birds! I like seeing the crest wet and messy – it makes the photos look very real. 🙂
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Thank you Lynn! Wet and messy, like some humans.
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Marvelous captures, Hien! We see them occasionally here but mostly at a distance.
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Thank you! They do migrate to the West Coast in the winter.
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Awesome shots, Hien, and you captured that male’s beautiful eye!
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beautiful…we get Hooded mergansers that look a lot like these mergansers…especially the female with a spiky hair-do. Super photos.
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Thank you!
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Red eyes!
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Yeah, they always look drunk, don’t they?
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Love your comment about the spiky hairstyles. 🙂 They look quite distinctive.
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That’s what struck me about them, and their red eyes also.
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Those spiky hairdos are something else. Gorgeous captures.
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Thank you Sue!
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Wonder if mergansers come to our area. I’ll have to do some research! One of my goals for this year is to work on my captures of birds. We will see how that goes. 😊
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I think they breed in your area, and in Canada also.
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The Indiana Audubon Society has confirmed that you are right! 😊 I will definitely be on the look out for them. Thanks, Hien.
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Superb images. That’s a lot of fish they have to consume. 🙂
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Thank you! The fish they eat are rather small, compared to Ospreys or Cormorants.
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Love the eyes 🙂 Such a beautiful bird. You are so lucky to have them as your models 🙂
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Thank you! We are indeed lucky to see them in the winter.
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Oh that red eye! Great shots, Hien!
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Red eyes and spiky hair! Thank you Eliza!
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They are indeed beautiful and unique, Hien! 🙂
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Thank you Amy! They stand out, like the male Hooded Margansers.
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Beautiful captures of these colorful birds, Hien!
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Thank you Helen!
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These photos are truly fantastic, Hien. You captured their unique look so beautifully, and the wet heads and beaded coats demonstrate how frequently and energetically they are diving. Red eyes are beacons here. We don’t see these birds very often where I live, and I feel like I’ve gotten a good fill for awhile here, thank you.
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I don’t think I have seen these before! More familiar with the hooded merganser. Thanks for great photos.
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Thank you! These ducks prefer to stay near salt water in the winter.
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