Morning at Rios with the Mergansers

Not all birding days are like the other day when I got to see the interaction between the Peregrine and the Red-tailed Hawk. Most days are just calm and quiet but it's always fun when you go birding at the San Elijo Lagoon on the Rios Ave Pole Road Trail. 

Spotting the Hooded Mergansers from the lookout area above the peninsula trail, I hurried down as quietly as possible. The hoodies are quite shy and will swim away or take to air if you get too close to their location. I walked softly and started to snap away as fast as I could before they had a chance to leave the area. In this shot, the male Hooded Merganser has his hood up.

Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus measures 18 inches long with a wingspan of 24 inches. The male (on the left) has the black and white head and the female (on the right) also has a crest but it is frosted brown in color.

The male is displaying his beautiful "hoodie"  and wings.

A shot with their crests down. 

 

Walking to the end of the Pole Road Trail, I notice another merganser.

It's a little hard to say for sure if this is a Red-breasted Merganser. I am looking at the black around the eyes and this is a female. She is looking a bit like a Common Merganser because of the dark circles around the eyes, but the shape of her head and crest looks like a Red-breasted. Will need help from our local experts on this ID.

 

I know for sure that this is a female Red-breasted Merganser. It has all the markings to ID it as one. Did you know that the Red-breasted Mergansers are the fastest horizontal flying bird in the world? They can fly up to 80 MPH!

Got this sweet shot of an Anna's Hummingbird by the trail entrance to Rios. Time for me to head for home.

 Happy Valentine's Day everyone!