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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Hooded Mergansers!

A few weeks ago, we took a ride into the woods to find streams and lakes where perhaps we
could see some ducks that were migrating through our area
to head south for Spring.

For the first time, EVER....

I was thrilled to get up pretty close to the
beautiful
HOODED MERGANSER.

Please click HERE for more info about them, they are gorgeous ducks.

See?:
(He seemed to have an "attitude" about my taking his photo!)






But his buddy was more social and let me take his photo:
(Don't you just love their little "helmet heads"?)



Here is a handsome couple.
I think the brown female is pretty too, with her tuft of feathers on her head:
(I found it interesting that the male has yellow eyes and the female had red eyes!)




Whenever we saw a male and female they were seperated and swimming together, away from the
single males:






They probably have already started little ones and claimed territory:



Unlike Mr. Attitude here...who puffed up his neck in warning to me.
Gheesh, I can't help it if he hasn't found a date for the prom yet!:






Although he is a fine male specimen....she couldn't go wrong mating with Mr. Handsome:




If only he didn't have that helmet head.....People may point and laugh....




But, it seems to have worked for SOME......




Of course, if you can't win the ladies with your helmet head....
you could always turn around
and show them
that gorgeous tail action....




Yep...that seemed to have worked, too--


Born to be wild.....

And it doesn't hurt at all...
to be this beautiful, even if you
ARE
still a single stud.

I mean, it worked on ME,
and
I'm human........

18 comments:

rainfield61 said...

Wow, what a lovely couple.

DJan said...

Fabulous pictures. I don't think I've ever seen these guys before, because I sure would have noticed, they are so unusual looking. Thanks for the great shots!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for sharing those photos. I had never seen that type of bird. Beautiful!

Brian Miller said...

my what a big head he has...smiles. truly magnificent. hope you have a great mothers day!

CiCi said...

I was so excited to see these, never have seen anything like this before, I had to get hubby in here to see them too. Gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Up until two years ago, I didn't have a clue what these were. We see them swimming in the sewage lagoon (guess they aren't too choosy!) once in a while. The males are so pretty.

Are ya home now?

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Joan, The merganser dicks are so gorgeous!!! Thanks for sharing.

We're home from the beach --and I'll post in the morning. Had a wonderful time --but it's nice to be home.

One of my sons is visiting me on my 'special' day (Mother's Day) today!!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Betsy

L. D. said...

They are a beautiful duck. I have never seen them in real life but your photos display them well.

Bossy Betty said...

Oh my! So pretty! I would have stayed there all day taking pictures!

Wanda..... said...

If they weren't so pretty, they would almost look funny, Joan! I learned the eye 'thing' is the same for box turtles!
♥...Wanda

The Retired One said...

Rainfield: Yes,they are both gorgeous.

DJan: you are welcome. We took those a few weeks ago before I went to Florida, so we hope to go back to the same spot to see if they had babies there or if they have migrated on.

Eva:You are most welcome..it was my pleasure. We were so thrilled to see them as I have never seen them before either.

Brian: We drove the final 600 miles home from Florida today on Mother's Day...so I am happy to be home..tired, but happy. I know you made Mother's Day special for your wife as you are such a romantic...

TechnoBabe: You should have seen ME when I saw them in person. ha

Cathy: this was the first time we saw any in person...and I was thrilled. Just got home tonight (Mother's Day) and we are POOPED. Man it is cold here..what happened to the 70 degree weather we had three weeks ago before we left? My garden grew..all my tulips are in bloom and our cherry tree is in full bloom too. Quite a change from when I left on all my yard plants but the temps are too cold!

Betsy: Don't worry about posting when you have your son there! Heck, from our three weeks in Florida I am totally behind on reading everyone's blogs and had trouble posting the April photo contest pix while away...plus I have a ton of photos to download from our trip to Florida yet too. We just got back tonight from our 1, 750 mile trip home...we drove over 600 miles since this morning and I am exhausted...but we will both be caught up within the week and back to routine. I was so happy that I had decided to prepublish posts before I left, it took a lot of pressure off me when we got delayed down there.

Bossy: I stayed as long as the ducks did, but then they flew. ha

L.D.: That was the first and only time we have seen those kind of ducks in person too...I was pretty happy to be able to capture them with my camera..they were amazing looking.

Wanda: Interesting on the turtles too...I love getting pix of those too..I know you seem to have a lot of them in your area and I think that is fantastic!

Joanna Jenkins said...

This is one handsome couple.
Thanks for sharing,
jj

S-V-H said...

I always love your little stories to your posts, like this one special. You're so creative Joan! They are indeed a handsome couple together - and soon there will be some handsome babies there too :))

Loved the post!

Loree said...

Gosh those heads - not sure if I like them or not but I suppose they are gorgeous in their own way.

Gail Wilson said...

Such colorful beautiful birds. I have never seen them before. Thanks for the pretty pictures. Gail

The Retired One said...

Joanna: you are welcome. Aren't they neat ducks?

Susanne: I sure would love to see their babies!

Loree: How can you NOT love those mis-shapened little heads? I love that the MOST about them. ha

MISTAYA: We hadn't seen them either before...I was so excited when we saw them I was shaking to get a photo of them with my camera. ha

Unknown said...

your photos are beyond awesome!

The Retired One said...

Georgie: Thanks SO much,... I am glad you enjoy them. I sure enjoy taking them!

REMINDER: All photographs on this blog are COPYRIGHTED.

REMINDER: All photographs on this blog are COPYRIGHTED.
Please do not copy any of my photographs (or narratives) without my permission! All pictures will be tracked for copyright violations.

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I retired in June 2008 and started my blog in November 2008. I worked at several jobs as a Registered Nurse prior to retirement. I LOVE being retired! Blogging has offered me a whole new venue to start writing again and to share new hobbies such as gardening, birdwatching and sharing my nature photography. If you like my blog, PLEASE click on "follow this blog". Having a lot of followers reading my blog gives me incentive to continue to do photography and to continue to write. I also LOVE comments, so I encourage you to leave me a comment after you read my posts. Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read me!!

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