![\"hooded-merganser-3810-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/hooded-merganser-3810-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI don’t think I’ve seen this condition before, in any species.<\/p>\n
Yesterday morning at Farmington was a bust for me and I’ll blame it on the weather forecasters. The forecast was for partly cloudy but it was socked in with thick clouds the entire time I was there so because of deplorable light I didn’t get any shots that I like. Zilch. Nada. Not a single one.<\/p>\n
I did find a couple of interesting birds though.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/800, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s extremely rare for me to see a Hooded Merganser so even with the deplorable\u00a0light I couldn’t resist documenting this sighting. To make shooting conditions even worse the bird was in a creek lined with high, steep banks so in the early morning the light was even more dismal down there and the angle on the merganser was steep.<\/p>\n But while reviewing my images at home I noticed something unusual about this bird’s bill\u00a0that at\u00a0most angles\u00a0could barely be seen. Here we only get a hint of it – sharp eyes might notice that the mandible (lower bill) begins to disappear behind the maxilla (upper bill) as it becomes more distal (further away from the body).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/500, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n With the head turned more toward us and an even steeper angle on the bird a little more is revealed.\u00a0The whitest spot at the end of the bill that at first glance appears to be a water drop is actually the tip of the mandible that wouldn’t be seen above the tip of the maxilla at this angle in a normal bill. We’ll get a much different view of that white spot in the next image.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/320, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n When the bird plopped into the water from the bank it gave me a head-on view that best shows the alignment problem with the bill (even though the image isn’t very sharp – 1\/320 sec just isn’t a fast enough shutter speed for these shaky old hands). The alignment issue appears to be\u00a0fairly drastic. Both the mandible and the maxilla seem to be structurally normal but they’re just badly misaligned.<\/p>\n I’m relatively sure this wasn’t just a momentary misalignment of the bill done deliberately by the bird (if that’s something they’re even capable of doing) because I have many other images that show the same misalignment to one degree or another at different angles.<\/p>\n In the past I’ve photographed a variety of different birds with abnormal bills (examples can be seen here<\/a> and here<\/a>) but their bills were always deformed in one way or another rather than misaligned. I’m no veterinarian or rehabber but this\u00a0bird seems to have a new, to me, variation on the theme and it interested me for that reason.<\/p>\n For those who may be concerned for the welfare of the bird, this merganser seems to have adapted just fine to its abnormality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n The only other bird of interest yesterday morning was my old friend the male Belted Kingfisher. It was so damned frustrating to get several images like this one that in better light could have been quite good. He took off from the mound of snow on the perch and I got two shots of him lifting off that I would have liked in better light. Shortly after I left the area and went home the sun came out and I’m sure other photographers did much better with this bird than I did.<\/p>\n Bird photography ain’t easy!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n![\"hooded-marganser-3793-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/hooded-marganser-3793-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"hooded-marganser-3869-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/hooded-marganser-3869-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"hooded-merganser-3895-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/hooded-merganser-3895-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n