Red-breasted Mergansers

Precious little time of late to cart the camera out and snap off photos. But a window opened up this afternoon, and I spent a few hours clicking the shutter about 1,500 times at one of my favorite subjects, waterfowl. There is an easily accessible open lead in otherwise frozen Alum Creek Reservoir, Delaware County, Ohio. It's just north of the Cheshire Road bridge, on the east side of the lake. The hole is jammed with waterfowl of many species, and if time permits I'll post some really cool stuff from this foray.

But for now, a female and male Red-breasted Merganser, two of many that were present.

A hen Red-breasted Merganser wrestles a small yellow perch into position for swallowing. A colloquial name for this duck is "sawbill", and that's because its mandibles are edged with sharp serrations, the better to grasp slippery prey.

Nearby was this gaudy drake. The boy mergansers were keenly interested in the girls, and many were engaged in their comical bowing courtship displays. I caught some of that action on pixels, and will try to put up some photos later. Anyway, what a cool duck this is!