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Monday, April 07, 2008

Common Merganser

Common Merganser, male

The ice is partially gone from the cove part of the lake we front on and ducks have moved in. Yesterday we saw 33 Common Mergansers diving down through the water and popping up in holes in the ice. Watch for migrant ducks and geese on water areas near you. This is a big migration time for them.

Photo © Lillian Stokes

4 comments:

Birdman said...

Hello Donald and Lillian Stokes,

I agree, many birds are migrating at this time of year and this is the time rare species can be found.

Goodbye,
Birdman

The Boisverts said...

How funny! About a week ago or so I posted an excited post on my blog to tell that my son and I saw 4 Common Mergansers swimming downstream and playing in the water right in the river that runs alongside our road! I'd never seen them before and had to look them up online after to find out what kind they were. They happily played in the water and we parked along the bank with the windows down and listened and watched for about 10 minutes. One of them was a female I guess; she had a more brownish head than the others. What beautiful birds they were to see! I was very excited despite them apparently being "common."

FootAndPaddle said...

33 mergansers!...and I was excited to see a pair on Child's Bog in Harrisville on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Hi Don and Lillian, today in our local newspaper here in Florida, a father and son found a dead subarctic bird in the surf in Vero Beach. It was identifed as a razorbilled auk which looks similar to a penquin and was at least 2,000 miles away from his home. Sorry he didn't make it, but another was spotted in the ocean.
CAA