Back in the spring we had a pair of breeding mergansers in the bay. Over the summer, we've seen the ducklings parading by. Now, come September, the kids are big!
This morning a group came steaming along the shoreline, hunting minnows. Now, when mergansers are on the move, you have to be quick to keep up. I grabbed cameras and just tore down to the far corner of the bay as fast as I could go, but they were still there before me.
Along the shoreline, with its bullrushes and cattails, old stumps and 'habitat', there is always a profusion of small minnows. Once the mergansers find these, it is nothing short of a feeding frenzy. As they dive and twist under the water, the surface churns up... I thought you might like to watch them, so I've added a link to video of the hunting mergansers.
One of our favourite ducks, these birds with their distinctive red crests and serrated beaks are always a welcome sight.
If the mergansers are turning up, it must be fall! Ours flew north to see us when the ice was partly on the lake!
ReplyDeleteP.S.
Brian says to remind you when flagging at the Muskoka Ironman, remember you are NOT a matador, or running the bulls in Spain!
have fun!