- Sep 26 10:46 pm
#52534
Found a great spot for Common Mergansers here in Kelowna, then, in editing for posting learned a couple of things: how to tell juvenile females from adults (the white face bar above the lower mandible indicates a juvie), and that some of these birds have a yellow ringed eye and some don't. No doubt there's a simple explanation for this, but I don't know it and didn't find a quick explanation with a Google search. Any authorities out there who can help with this?
The photos below illustrate what I'm writing about:
(Not the best shot, but we can clearly see the difference in the eyes of the birds.
Common Mergansers - juveniles
Less of a face bar here and no yellow eye ring:
Common Merganser - 4
These youngsters where cruising downstream when one nipped the other and caused a kerfuffle
whose aftereffect is still visible in the roiled water.
Common Mergansers - 5
Both juvies above have yellow eye rings.
Looking forward to your help!!
The photos below illustrate what I'm writing about:
(Not the best shot, but we can clearly see the difference in the eyes of the birds.
Common Mergansers - juveniles
Less of a face bar here and no yellow eye ring:
Common Merganser - 4
These youngsters where cruising downstream when one nipped the other and caused a kerfuffle
whose aftereffect is still visible in the roiled water.
Common Mergansers - 5
Both juvies above have yellow eye rings.
Looking forward to your help!!
Keith R.
Kelowna
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8666250@N02/
For those inclined, check out my new blog, mostly about birds, called https://birdsandmusings.wordpress.com
Kelowna
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8666250@N02/
For those inclined, check out my new blog, mostly about birds, called https://birdsandmusings.wordpress.com