A Merganser Couple

 As I was walking home from school and crosses Wickford Brige, I noticed the mated pair of Hooded Mergansers swimming around together right underneath me. I whipped out my phone for a photo. As I was opening my camera app, They panicked and flapped rapidly until they made it about 200 feet from me, and then they landed. I snapped one photo while they were flying. Here is that photo zoomed into the male...

and here's the full photo...

...One of the things I love about the photo is how the tips of their wings leave the ripple pattern on the water. I can't tell if their feathers are actually touching the water, or if the ripples are caused by water drops being flung off their wings with each flap. It seems like the wings touching the water would slow them down alot.

The Common Merganser breeds in late spring, so they have a while to go until they have chicks. Mergansers are not dabbling birds like ducks and geese, and instead are diving birds, swimming underwater for frogs, fish and crustaceans, similarly to loons and cormorants. They are much more cautious than ducks and geese. I think fishing birds are more skittish than dabbling birds because they arent ever fed by humans. When people "feed the ducks" they are feeding the birds that will accept human food like bread, unlike the diving birds and herons which only target moving prey.

For anyone who is curious, this is a sketch I did which shows the difference between a male and female Hooded Merganser: