It was a nice surprise to see a pair of Hooded Mergansers in one of our marsh ponds last week, since the few fish there are too tiny to be even appetizers for these diving ducks. Understandably, we haven’t seen them since.
Hoodies are the smallest and oddest of the three American Mergansers. When excited, or just when they feel like it, they erect their proportionately massive hoods (crests, really) into feather fans. This is particularly spectacular on the orange-eyed, black-faced male, which has a white half moon hood:
When he’s calm and out for a paddle with his cute brown mate, his crest is down and his hood becomes a racing stripe:
(Brooklin, Maine)