The duck with the hammerhead crest. Sometimes.
1/800, f/8, ISO 1000, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It’s been two years since I’ve been able to get decent photos of a ‘Hoodie’ of either sex so late yesterday afternoon I was pretty excited when this female, that I hadn’t known was there, popped out from near the shore of a steep pond-bank right below me. For most of the time I had her in my viewfinder the light was filtered by thin clouds or she was in the shade of the high bank, or both. This is the best light I ever got on her.
Hooded Mergansers of both sexes are known for their distinctive crests. When fully erected the crest is fan-shaped, as it is here. But it’s often only semi-erected, which gives it a hammerhead shape, but she nearly always kept her crest fully erected while I was with her.
1/320, f/8, ISO 500, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
I think she was as surprised by my appearance as I was by hers because as soon as I approached her she swam to the far side of the pond. So I soon left her to look for other birds.
1/800, f/8, ISO 1000, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
A little while later I came back and found her fairly close again. This time she was actively diving for food.
1/800, f/8, ISO 1000, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
As in most diving birds, she would flatten the feathers on top of her head just before she went under. That’s easier said than done when you have a huge crest such as hers so just prior to diving, much of her flattened crest would bulge behind the back of her head.
1/800, f/8, ISO 1000, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
In an instant she was…
1/800, f/8, ISO 1000, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
gone, or nearly so. I never did see her come up with prey.
In the past when I’ve seen this species this time of year they’re sometimes already paired up. But yesterday I couldn’t find her mate, if she had one.
Maybe next time.
Ron
Note: Don’t ask me about my camera settings for this series – they’re wonky. They were meant for another bird I’d been photographing just prior to the Hoodie and in all the excitement I guess I forgot to check/change them for her. You’d think that would no longer happen after all these years of photographing birds.
Terrific photographs!
Love the overall warmth of the light.
Great shots!
At least here in the East, trying to get shot like that are extremely difficult, or at least from my point view!
I agree with Annie , I believe this is a non breeding male . Great blog , I enjoy reading and viewing your photos daily .
Looking rather sphinx-like, is she not, in that fourth photo? And she’s taken that “blending in with your environment” to new heights, color-matching the water. Such interesting-looking birds, I hope you do get the chance soon to photograph a pair together.
“Looking rather sphinx-like, is she not, in that fourth photo?”
She is indeed, Chris.
That’s a gorgeous fro!
Agreed.
I love these Ron. One of my favorite duck, not seen often either. I guess I need to get back to the area either before or after work. It is not far from the warehouse. I have not been along the Jordan River for pleasure since 2020. I have done a few releases of rehab birds in the area.
Thanks, April. I hope you find some.
What a beauty she is. I try not to have avian envy, but sometime I fail. Badly.
EC, your birds down under often give me avian envy. So it’s fair that you have some…
Very nice series of photos. Love these birds who have a morphable crest, or what my wife affectionately calls a “hoozy”, on top of their heads.
“Hoozy”, tell your wife I like that Michael!
Now that is a different duck I have never heard or seen before. Thanks for finding her and sharing. Now I want to see the colorful male.
Trudy, they’re a highly sexually dimorphic species so the males look very different from the females. Spectacularly so.
What a beautiful group of photos! I envy you because I have never been close to these birds. Alas, I have only viewed them from afar from the distant side of rivers.
Thank you, Joanne.
Wonderful photos, Ron! Hooded mergansers are one of my favorite duck species. I think this is a young male rather than a female, since it has yellow eyes instead of brown. But someone please correct me if I’m wrong that yellow eyes is a male only trait!
Thanks, Annie. I’ll be interested to know if I have the sex wrong.
I keep seeing a French lady with a Renaissance coiffure!
I see what you mean, Arwen.
Lovely portrait, Ron! On Thanksgiving I was birding at a large lake, and counted 118 Hooded Mergs, an unusually high number for migration. The place was eerily quiet except for these strange low guttural bellows – made by the males! Hard to describe, but imagine the sound of a hundred bull frogs filtered through a rusty can. On the Sibley app it’s called male “pops and growls”. It’s a moment I won’t soon forget!
Diane, seeing and hearing that many hoodies at the same time must have been a hoot. Or a lot of pops and growls…
Excellent clean sharp photos that really show her “hood” well. In that photo coming back up after diving she looks like she just came out of the shower. Where there are females there will soon be males. Hope you get to see them together soon.
Thanks, Everett. I hope so too.
Beautiful bird! Even with their more subdued colors than the males. Putting the hood back reminds me of some of the slicked back hair doos popular with men during a certain era.. 😉 Water was definitely muddy! Ah, “buck fever” – with hunting season recently done that term has come into play for more than one person…..
Thanks, Judy. Buck fever, combined with a high-powered rifle in hand, isn’t a good combination. Cameras are much safer…
It’s the Brylcreem look. A little dab’ll do ya. There’s an ear worm for us.
An earworm blast from the past!
One is immediately struck by how the muddy water complements the Merganser’s color. That, and that she must have x-ray vision to detect prey. Perhaps that is related to the perpetually startled look. Strangely, she reminds me of both Phyllis Diller and the Bride of Frankenstein. I’ll have to work on the hammerhead comparison. Not quite seeing it. Ball peen? Claw?
I was unaware the R5 was capable of such slow shutter speeds . Sorry, couldn’t resist.
“she must have x-ray vision to detect prey”
Lyle, unlike some diving ducks they’re known as sight-hunters so maybe that’s why I didn’t see her catch anything in that muddy water.
You’re having a hard time seeing the ‘hammerhead’ shape of her crest in these photos because she kept her crest fully erected. That shape can be seen better in the photo of the male at the bottom of this post:
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2020/12/07/female-hooded-merganser-with-a-hammerhead-reflection/
Lovely shots and a fun duck to watch but “You’d think that would no longer happen” ? Hah! 🤭🥴
I actually would expect that to be the norm but then I guess that’s why your shots are better than mine. 😉 Some of us are quite excitable and find learning those things really, really hard. 🤭
“Some of us are quite excitable”
When it comes to birds I’m in that boat too, Granny Pat. When it happens to me I think of it as buck fever.
Beautiful bird! I have yet to find a male in my adventures, but in due time it will happen.
Thanks, Shane. I wish you luck with the males.