{"id":81291,"date":"2020-02-01T06:16:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T13:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=81291"},"modified":"2020-02-01T07:23:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T14:23:42","slug":"common-mergansers-competition-among-the-disadvantaged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/01\/common-mergansers-competition-among-the-disadvantaged\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Mergansers – Competition Among The Disadvantaged"},"content":{"rendered":"

I told this story seven years ago but this time I’m including more details and using mostly different photos. Five of the eight photos below are new to my blog.<\/p>\n

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Gulls are unapologetic thieves so when this one thought the juvenile Common Merganser on the partially ice-covered pond had come up with a fish it descended on the merganser in an attempt to snatch it away. But the gull soon realized that it wouldn’t be getting whatever is in the mergansers mouth so it looked for leftovers in the water behind the merganser.<\/p>\n

That isn’t a fish in the merganser’s mouth. I believe it was a fishing lure of some kind.<\/p>\n

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Whatever it was the merganser couldn’t get rid of it, though it tried desperately to do so for quite a while.<\/p>\n

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I believe the wing flap that followed was done out of frustration.<\/p>\n

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All the commotion between the merganser and the gull caught the attention of another merganser some distance away. This bird also had thievery on its mind so it began to rush over to see what it could abscond with.<\/p>\n

But this bird was also at a significant disadvantage.<\/p>\n

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Its left foot was missing.<\/p>\n

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A closeup of another photo gives us a better look at the stump.<\/p>\n

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This second merganser had quite a distance to cover before it got to the other birds so I managed to get quite a few shots of it running on water with one foot with only the assistance of its wings.<\/p>\n

I was amazed at how well this bird had adapted to its handicap. Mergansers are primarily fish eaters which they have to catch underwater and this one-footed bird was in good condition and thriving so it was obviously catching fish and eating well. But it’s odds for the future weren’t good. It would soon have to migrate to its northern breeding range and with a missing foot my assumption was that it wouldn’t survive up there for long, if it made it at all.<\/p>\n

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So my amazement was compounded when I found the same bird, now an adult in breeding plumage (a male) but still missing the same foot, on the edge of the same pond the following winter.<\/p>\n

This bird was a survivor<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes and miscellanea:<\/em><\/p>\n