I needed to buy some medicine for Skye at the vets yesterday, and never one to waste gas I decided once again that I would time my visit so that I could visit Waughop lake. Unfortunately, the sun breaks were so short that it was only clear a small part of the time, but still long enough to get some interesting shots.
Most interesting to me were shots of Common Mergansers, specifically male Mergansers. I knew that the males change colors dramatically during breeding, but I’d never seen it displayed as dramatically as it was today.
It began when I started seeing ducks that I couldn’t identify, though they looked vaguely familiar. What I was seeing was male Common Mergansers changing right in front of my eyes, from that male that looks more like a female than a male
to this male, which seems about half transformed,
to these Mergansers in full regalia.