2/27/2010

Two NEW SPECIES! Two LIFE-LISTERS! In ONE DAY!

common merganser2
New Species for me! Life Lister, life Lister! Hooray! I went to see where the river had flooded at Saxonville, and there they were! Common Mergansers! And I found them all by myself!

common merganser males
They are just beautiful! Long and slim looking, with dark, dark green heads, and very orange beaks that are tipped with black. Really cool!

common merganser female
I didn't know what the hell they were, of course! The only think I noticed was the female with her reddish fuzzy head looked similar to the female Hooded Merganser.

common merganser
There seemed to be four or maybe five males and one female. Considering what I witnessed the squirrels getting up to yesterday, I'm thinking mating season must be around the corner, maybe?

common mergansers and canada geese
The Canada Geese did NOT like these mergansers one bit. They squawked at them and raced across the water like they were going to attack. But the ducks weren't fazed a bit by the display.

common merganser2
All the way home I was singing, "I'm finally getting ducks! I'm finally getting ducks! Like everybody else get ducks!"

Believe me, I am appalled by myself at times!

Common Goldeneye male and female
Poor pics or not, I am posting these guys come hell or high water. Its another species of duck that I have always wanted to see - and now I have! The Common Goldeneye!

Common Goldeneye male and female 2
NEW SPECIES #2!!!! Common Goldeneye - another LIFE LISTER for me. These images are horrible because it was getting very dark ( and snowing) when I found these two.

Common Goldeneye female
Honestly, I thought this was a loon or something the whole time. The female Common Goldeneye looks nothing at all like the male. I mean, even their heads are shaped differently!

Common Goldeneye male
My only beef is with the word "common" in both species names. They sure as hell were not common to me! They sure as hell don't look at all common either! They are some damn fine looking birds!

4 comments:

  1. Great pics of the mergansers. I never been so close to a golden eye.

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  2. Wow- Common Mergansers! I've never seen them before (just the Hooded Mergansers). Looks like a great trip!

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  3. Congratulations! You got some really nice images. Do you keep a list of how many species you have seen so far?

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  4. Hilke, I have half a dozen lists scattered about, but not one is complete or correct. My ADD makes me better at creating things than maintaining them. I even started a new list for 2010, but I keep forgetting to update it!

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