{"id":22079,"date":"2014-02-14T05:47:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T12:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=22079"},"modified":"2014-02-14T06:04:37","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T13:04:37","slug":"a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/","title":{"rendered":"A Survivor! Last Year’s One-footed Merganser Has Returned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With all the recent bad news about critters suffering and dying at the hand of man it’s so\u00a0refreshing to come across one who has\u00a0defied the odds and not only survived, but thrived!<\/p>\n<p>But I should start at the beginning…<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"22082\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1361006354","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0004","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"common merganser 7217 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22082\" alt=\"common merganser 7217 ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7217-ron-dudley-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<em><strong>1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Almost exactly\u00a0a year ago\u00a0(2\/16\/13)\u00a0I photographed this one-footed juvenile male Common Merganser at Willow Pond, an urban fishing pond near my home.\u00a0 Here it’s rushing across the water to investigate a fish that another bird had captured and the “running” pose revealed that the left foot was missing.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"22083\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1361006354","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0004","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"common merganser 7223 ron dudley (2)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22083\" alt=\"common merganser 7223 ron dudley (2)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This shot shows the leg stump even\u00a0more clearly.<\/p>\n<p>The pond\u00a0was severely littered with discarded and lost fishing line along the shoreline (I can only imagine how much of it was below the surface) and I strongly suspect that this bird’s leg had become entangled in some of the line\u00a0and circulation was lost, as was the foot.\u00a0 That tentative conclusion on my part is only speculation of course but that speculation was fueled by the two small strands of line coming off this birds\u00a0other foot (look carefully for them)\u00a0and by…<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"22081\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1361006139","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0005","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"common merganser 7192 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22081\" alt=\"common merganser 7192 ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7192-ron-dudley-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>the merganser’s companion – another juvenile with a lure\/hook\/bait stuck in its bill (this is not simply a small fish ready to be swallowed, that was obvious to me as I watched the bird through my lens).\u00a0 Look closely and you can see more fishing line (looks like a fishing\u00a0leader) coming off the\u00a0top\u00a0of the wing.\u00a0 We also photographed a duck on that morning entangled in fishing line – it’s an insidious and pervasive problem.<\/p>\n<p>I haven’t seen any mergansers on the mostly frozen pond all winter.\u00a0\u00a0A few\u00a0Common Mergansers winter in my area but most seem to go south and I always look forward to their return.\u00a0\u00a0I strongly suspected that neither of these birds would survive the winter and to be perfectly honest had mostly forgotten about them until\u00a0three\u00a0days ago\u00a0when I saw an\u00a0adult merganser basking and preening on the far shore of the pond (very far away) and\u00a0thought\u00a0I noticed that it was favoring one of its legs.\u00a0 That sight brought a momentary flashback of the one-footed bird but I just didn’t give it much thought and never even considered the possibility that it could be the same merganser as the year before.\u00a0\u00a0 I think part of the reason for that is the difference in plumage colors of juveniles and adults (particularly the color of the head).<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"22080\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,669\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1392286516","copyright":"","focal_length":"500","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0005","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"common merganser 2699 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley-300x223.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22080\" alt=\"common merganser 2699 ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"669\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley-150x111.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-2699-ron-dudley-400x297.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yesterday\u00a0morning I was able to get close to the merganser as it basked on the shore in the first warm sunlight we’ve had for a good long while – it was in the same area where I had seen it from across the pond two days before.\u00a0 I took many photos as it rested and preened and in two of those shots it lifted its leg enough to reveal – voila, a missing left foot!\u00a0 Almost certainly this is the same merganser as the year before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I’m truly impressed.\u00a0 I can’t imagine the severe disadvantage this\u00a0merganser has in capturing fish underwater (they\u00a0primarily eat small fish)\u00a0with only one foot for propulsion.\u00a0 The bird not only survives but it thrives and appears to be healthy\u00a0as it’s behavior seems to be the same as that of several other mergansers on the pond.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Seeing this bird again made my day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Ron<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>For those interested in more background:\u00a0 Last year I contacted Tom Wharton a highly respected columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune who often covers outdoor recreational topics to see if he was interested in doing a story<\/em> <em>on these birds and the issue of discarded fishing line.\u00a0\u00a0He was and he did.\u00a0 For those who haven’t seen it before, here’s the<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/sltrib\/entertainment2\/55975514-223\/story.csp\" target=\"_blank\">link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With all the recent bad news about critters suffering and dying at the hand of man it’s so refreshing to come across one who has defied the odds and not only survived, but thrived!<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/14\/a-survivor-last-years-one-footed-merganser-has-returned\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[334,348,8,16],"tags":[24,92,1868,190,1245,1249,1331,1330,311,1332],"class_list":["post-22079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","category-common-mergansers","category-ecology-and-environment","category-photography-ethics","tag-adult","tag-common-merganser","tag-discarded-fishing-line","tag-juvenile","tag-mergus-merganser","tag-murray","tag-salt-lake-tribune","tag-tom-wharton","tag-utah-2","tag-willow-pond"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/common-merganser-7223-ron-dudley-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-5K7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}