We saw these Hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) while hiking at Hueston Woods State Park. They were fun to watch. It was like a wrestling match on the water. Unfortunately, they were far away, so I didn’t get the best photo. It was still cool.
This hooded merganser do not stay here during the winter, but they don’t travel far. From Wikipedia:
Hooded mergansers are short-distance migrants, and they winter in the United States in regions where winter temperatures allow for ice-free conditions on ponds, lakes and rivers. They have two major year-round ranges. One is in the Eastern United States from the southern Canada–US border along the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf Coast in the region of the Mississippi delta. A smaller year-round range extends from Washington state and southern British Columbia to northern Idaho.
They also breed to some extent in regions from Missouri to southern Canada and from Nova Scotia to eastern North Dakota and Saskatchewan, migrating when necessary to avoid winter conditions.(More on the Hooded merganser on Wikipedia)
~ Rick
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