Thursday, April 14, 2011

Red-breasted Merganser at Ding Darling...

...continued from the Captiva Island posts.
Matty and I watched a sweet female Red-breasted Merganser diving and preening at the Ding Darling NWR for a long time. She was very fastidious with her preening, and just as ambitious with her diving!

Now you see her...

...now you don't!
A female Red-breasted Merganser uses her powerful webbed feet to propel her into deeper waters to search out her prey, small fish. She hunts by sight, so it's no wonder we found her in such clear water...she logged a lot of underwater time!

...now you see her again (which means it's time to preen)!

14 comments:

  1. Ah, another bird I miss seeing! They don't live here in Central PA, but they spend every Winter in the coastal waters and coves and inlets around Newport. One of their favorite haunts there was Newport Harbor.

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  2. She does look a little wet, and look at those red eyes!

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  3. Hi Kelly ..love the photo of her under water...pretty cool!!

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  4. Terrific images, Kelly! Love the underwater view!

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  5. Oh cool Kelly, that second shot is unique and splendid!

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  6. Such pretty orange feet! Lovely series.

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  7. It takes a lot of preening to look cool while you're diving!

    Cool captures!

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  8. Such experts underwater. Lovely shots of a species I see through the winter but usually at very long range.

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  9. Great underwater coverage of the and on the web!

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  10. Without doubt,a superb Capture.
    John.

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  11. ...thanks you for the kind comments. Matty and I could have spent the entire afternoon watching the mergansers, cormorants, and anhingas too...diving. The merganser came the closest, and we could watch every move she made under the water--very cool to say the least!

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