The Merganser Ducks, there are 4 types of Merganser Ducks and Merganser means fish eating ducks. This first one is called the Common Merganser. The females all look like they have mohawks when their head feathers are up. These photos did not turn out as clear as I had hoped for. But I wanted to show them anyway. I will be going back to the lake to get better photos next week.
The rest of these are named Hooded Merganser’s. The female is in the front with her fancy feather doo. Her hubby in the back looks a bit perturbed. Like he is saying, ” Now where are we going?” She just keeps on going. 🙂
Does Anyone Know What This Is, well I did not know until the other day. I have seen wild turkeys from a distance. But never this close. The male turkeys, called Tom’s, are so much more colorful than I knew, especially during this time of year and if the sun is out.
These feathers sticking out from the males are called beards. Males typically have a “beard”, a tuft of coarse hair (modified feathers) growing from the center of the breast. Beards average 230Â mm (9.1Â in) in length. The longer the beard the older the turkey.
The body feathers are generally blackish and dark, sometimes grey brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence.
Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes; the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle.Â
Their heads are very colorful, from pinks and blues. Now, their face is a little odd, but their beautiful feathers really make them shine. Tomorrow I will show a couple photos of the Tom’s strutting their stuff. I never know when they will show up and they spook real easy. I hope to get some video of them one of these times.
