Bird Watching: As close as I've been able to get, 0 by cpartschick

cpartschick wrote:
Great pictures, we get these in the spring as soon as the ice starts to thaw. What great birds on of my favorites. I saw some in the fall this year, but they come closer to the house in the spring eatting stuff in the water. I know how hard it is to take those pictures. I have not yet got anything that close. What is hard here is they are under the water more than on top. They can stay under an amazingly long time. The females tend to be the better fishers, coming up with little fish after fish, while the males come up empty beaked most times. I see as many as 10 males following one or two females. After mating the males seem to leave until fall. The mating is really something. Poor girl gets held under the water for a long time, then he grabs her by the top notch so she can sputter and get some air. Thanks for the pictures, I will be looking forward to their arrival soon.
I just dug through my pictures and I don't even have any of the hooded mergansers. I do have a picture of the common merganser, they are twice as big and only 1/2 as cool.