Hooded Merganser by PatGoltz

Photography • Animals • posted on Nov 28, 2011

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Description

Lophodytes cucullatus The male of this species has a very interesting characteristic. He has the ability to reveal a white area on his head that looks like a quarter pie shape, or conceal it down to a very narrow strip. The area is surrounded by black. They do this by raising the feathers in their crest. It appears to me that either they are trying to show who is boss, or attract a mate. Their markings in general are quite distinctive. The female also has a crest, but she is a reddish brown, not at all conspicuous like the male. This male graced me with this wonderful display of flapping wings. For a change, I got a good picture. After all, he was quite far off, and I was using my biggest lens. I found him at Sam Lena Park, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Comments (3)

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GiMi53

4:01AM | Mon, 28 November 2011

Perfect timing to capture this characteristic attitude ! I continue to appreciate your uploads/gallery VERY much (although I'm not very much present on the site...) :~)

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