Love is In the Air

In an earlier entry I showed the interaction between a male Hooded Merganser with a mate and a one without a mate. On my last visit to Port Orchard I spend over a half hour watching a slightly different interaction: one between two males and an unattached female.

Single males often gather together in small flocks and these two males were obviously hanging out just waiting for a gal to float by.

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It was obvious when they spotted a potential mate.

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Although they swam right by her, she didn’t even seem to acknowledge their presence,

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which seemed to lead to a short discussion between the two males, though I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying.

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The males weren’t about to give up, though the female seemed more interested in a good meal, even if she had to catch it herself, than flirting with two bachelors.

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Each time they circled the female, the males became more demonstrative.

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I really have to learn to speak “Duck.”

5 thoughts on “Love is In the Air”

  1. We don’t have Hooded Mergansers down in the Russian River area; none that I’ve seen, anyway. Great photos with a dramatic story running through it.

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