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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hooded-merganser-7874-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"hooded-merganser-7874-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the female of the pair. Both of these birds were always partially or completely sidelit so I really had to work at getting well-lit detail on their entire bodies. This is about as well as I was able to manage with the female and that’s at least partially my fault. Once again I spent far more time with the flashy male in my viewfinder than I did with the more understated female and that was a mistake.<\/p>\n Someday I’ll learn. Maybe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n Here’s the male of the pair flashing most if not all of his spectacular fan-shaped crest. Usually I couldn’t see this much of his crest but in this shot he had just finished scratching his head (we can see part of his foot being lowered back into the water after the scratching session) and he’d fully erected his crest during the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the last minute I decided to include this image of the male. For most readers it’ll likely have limited appeal, if any at all, but partly because of the dramatic water reflections it tickles my fancy, even though it was a very difficult exposure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today’s post is only an introduction to these “hoodies”. They were very shy but eventually they both put on quite a show by catching a bunch of fish and even squabbling over one of them so I ended up taking about 1750 photos of these birds. Whew, talk about going from famine to feast for this bird photographer!<\/p>\n So I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them and the fish they caught sometime soon but in the meantime I have a poop-load of images to review and cull.<\/p>\n I’m just a little surprised that I don’t see Hooded Mergansers more often than I do but I have a two-pronged theory to explain why. Here in northern Utah we’re right on the edge of their range so they’re even less common here than they are in many areas of their range (where they’re rarely abundant). And around here these birds, based on photos I see from local photographers, seem to most often be found along creeks and rivers that I can’t walk into because of my bad back. That’s very frustrating because the Jordan River is almost in my back yard but I can’t access most of it.<\/p>\n So coming across this mated pair was a real treat for me.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been weeks since I’ve been able to go shooting when we’ve had decent light and then yesterday afternoon the sun miraculously came out for a few hours and within seconds I got a mated pair of “lifers”. Go figure.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hooded-merganser-7819-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"hooded-merganser-7819-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n