Yesterday I finally made my way out into the wilds of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge for the first time following our recent snowfall. The wildlife refuge is open despite the partial federal government shutdown, but I was pretty sure that the access road had not been plowed, so I waited a few day for road conditions to improve.
It was heavily overcast for much of the day and the wildlife seemed to have hunkered down. Sightings were pretty scarce, so I was really happy when I spotted this duck. It was already a good distance away from me and I think it sensed my presence about the same time as I saw it and started swimming away immediately. I had a pretty good idea that this was a female Common Merganser duck (Mergus merganser) and some friendly folks on a Facebook forum confirmed the identification.
As far as I know, this is the first time that I have spotted this species—I am more used to seeing the Hooded Merganser, whose female sports a similar hairstyle to that of the Common Merganser.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Always something new to see isn’t there. 🙂
Nice Mike! They are fun to watch! They seem very active when working an area for food. On our way to Florida in the Spring, we are planning to stop by Occoquan NWR since seeing all your wonderful images posted here. We enjoy photographing at NWRs.
I had to chuckle, Mike. The two photos make it look like she’s getting ready to cross the street.
I too was taught to look both ways before crossing the street. 🙂
They are so goofy looking!