# Hooded Merganser in my backyard.  Never saw one...



## GeauxLSU (Nov 21, 2004)

I had never seen one of these until just now.  He's out there spending a LOT of time preening and trying to pretty himself up.  He seems like he's trying to put a move on a wood duck hen.  The wood duck drake is not having any of that.  
Anyway, this is shot through a dirty window and the bird is over 100 yards away so you get the digital zoom.  He is a VERY active little guy so it was hard getting one with the hood exposed but you get the idea.  We've always got woodies, mallards and canda's.  But this marks only the 3rd 'other' species I've ever seen.  One was a pair of blue winged deal last spring and the other was some colorful little dude that I still don't know what he was.  
It is a duck kind of weather day...   
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## Ga-Spur (Nov 21, 2004)

Didn't duck season open yesterday?


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## GeauxLSU (Nov 21, 2004)

Ga-Spur said:
			
		

> Didn't duck season open yesterday?


Yep.  Don't think my neighbors would appreciate me blasting them though...   
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## TurkeyCreek (Nov 21, 2004)

neat looking duck....i shot one long ago as a teenager....NOT very tasty!!!!


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## Nick_T (Nov 21, 2004)

Describe the unidentifable and we'll see if we can recognize. 

That's a great shot. Fun little birds to shoot but ain't fit for the table. Make a very nice mount though.

Nick T


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## GeauxLSU (Nov 21, 2004)

Nick_T said:
			
		

> Describe the unidentifable and we'll see if we can recognize.
> That's a great shot. Fun little birds to shoot but ain't fit for the table. Make a very nice mount though.
> Nick T


Nick,
It's been a couple of years so the memory is not fresh.  I just remember it being VERY colorful (even more so than a wood duck) with lots of gold and red and pretty distince markings (if I remember correctly) and at the time my immediate thought was some type of Japanese duck I had seen a picture of but I couldn't find anything on the web.  It was a small duck.  Not very helpful I know but that's all I got.   Not even sure now if I saw a picture I'd be certain it's it.  :  
That Merganser was beautiful and when he was preening himself and faning out his tail and hood 'what a beautiful mount he would make' is exactly what I was thinking.  It is the first one I have ever seen anywhere.  It's amazing what an attractor water is, even in the middle of 'civilization'.  
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## GeauxLSU (Nov 21, 2004)

*Mandarin duck*



			
				Nick_T said:
			
		

> Describe the unidentifable and we'll see if we can recognize.


Nick,
You got me thinking again so I went searching.  I swear this is it.  How could that possibly be?   : 
Looks like there's a small breeding population in N. California.  Either way, it's a loooong way from here.   
http://www.gamebird.com/refs.html
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aix_galericulata.html
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## Nick_T (Nov 21, 2004)

Dude, I ain't gonna say that it wasn't a Mandarin 'cause stranger things than that has happened. If that was the bird you saw you were truely blessed, most of us will never see one of those in the wild. It could have been a local breeders' bird that got out of his pen, but we've had reports of Cinnamon Teal killed here in GA and they're just about exclusive to the West coast so ya never know. Hooded Ganzers are pretty common, expecially on LK Blacksheir for some reason, and they are a beautiful little bird.

Nick T


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## Mac (Nov 21, 2004)

*I took one years ago*

One of the first ducks I ever shot.  It was over a beaver pond.  Didn't know what it was had to do some research to fine out what I had.  Wish I had it mounted now.  Very unique.


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## QuackAddict (Nov 22, 2004)

I went in the Red Barn in Loganville a couple of years ago and saw a pair of Mandarin wooducks that she has mounted.  According tro her, Mandarin wooducks are native to Michigan and they do not migrate.   : Needless to say, I don't go back there anymore.


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## GeauxLSU (Nov 22, 2004)

QuackAddict said:
			
		

> I went in the Red Barn in Loganville a couple of years ago and saw a pair of Mandarin wooducks that she has mounted.  According tro her, Mandarin wooducks are native to Michigan and they do not migrate.   : Needless to say, I don't go back there anymore.


    
When I saw, whatever it was, it was before I had my digital camera.  I try and keep it 'at the ready' now.    
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## BowArrow (Nov 25, 2004)

Great photo at that distance. It brings back memories when I would drift the Ogeechee River in the 50's , 60's , 70's and shoot ducks. We had a variety of ducks in those days and Hooded Mergansers were common of the river. They are diving ducks and run across the water to get airborne. They are fishey tasting because of their diet.

I believe the limit has always been one per day. The American Merganser, not as colorful, had a liberal bag limit.


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## mike bell (Nov 29, 2004)

Im not a duck hunter and I was wondering what kind of ducks they were.

Is it a Hooded Merganser in the picture??    Saturday afternoon,  I saw about 25 to 30 of them on a little pond here in Burke Co.  I knew it was'nt a wood duck.  Theres a boat load of woodies on Brier Creek.  I tried taking my camara with me last week, but of coaurse I didnt see any


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## GeauxLSU (Nov 29, 2004)

mike bell said:
			
		

> Is it a Hooded Merganser in the picture??


Indeed it is.
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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