Even among merganser ducks known for their wild “hairdos,” the hooded merganser’s style stands out. This eye-catching diving duck is instantly identifiable from its large-looking head, which, on males ...

It was a rainy Sunday morning at the beginning of March and I was suffering from cabin fever. It hasn’t been a particularly cold winter, but I had been cooped up nonetheless. Saturday had gone by ...

In my last column, I posed a question that went something like this, “when is a duck not a duck.” The answer is when it is a merganser. Then I wrote about the common merganser, which is a member of ...

Below, to male Common Mergansers are relaxing on the pond while I take photos from behind a nearby tree. Note the subtle green on the tops of their heads. Insert: This female Common Merganser has ...

I was watching a flock of buffleheads bob at the surface of a tidal pool that was flooded with water, it being full high tide. There is something fun about birds that shift their range with the season ...

Not many people recognize the mergansers when they see them. Duck-like but different, they are hard to identify by all but the experts. Of course, that’s one reason for writing this column — to ...