Spring Fever

These photos of the Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) were taken on the same day as the Falcated Ducks in the post below. There was a small flock of 2 drakes, 2 females and 1 eclipse or immature male. It was interesting to see that the female was actually the one that performed courtship display. One of the males seemed to be an immature bird showing black and brown feathers on wing coverts. I was pleased to finally get decent shots of this beautiful species in good light and also at a considerably close range. Despite its abundance, it's never easy to get good shots of this species.

Same as the Falcated Ducks, I could take photos of these mergansers closely because there was a high wall along the river bank for me to hide behind. They seemed to be a bit more confiding than the Falcated Ducks but constantly dived into the water searching for food, so it was still not very easy to photograph them. The eclipse/immature male looked quite scary and ugly with black patches on its face. It's also strange to see it being attracted to the adult male.

Eclipse/immature male

Female

Male bird showing its bright red foot

Stretching

The other drake that had dark feathers on wing coverts seemed to be isolated from the group. It mostly stayed alone closer to the bank, so after getting photos of the main group, I easily got some decent shots of it before all of them flew out as a big group of people came passing by.

Note dark feathers on white wing coverts