Hooded Mergansers

For my lunch break, I drove over to Farm Pond in Framingham, MA to see if the Hooded Mergansers might be a bit closer to shore today.  They were.....a bit!  The Hooded Mergansers are the small, shy ducks swimming behind the Canada geese.

It was interesting to watch them instantly disappear under water in fast dives.  Also, the males were chasing each other, presumably in order to attract the attention of the females and prove themselves the better mate.  I think the warm weather is fooling these ducks into early spring behavior!

Because I am such a fan of these ducks, I took tons of photos.  As always, you can click on any photo for a larger image.

Will you be my girlfriend?

Who...me?

Sure.  Why not?