Hooded merganser ducks at Lake Jacomo, Missouri скачать в хорошем качестве

Hooded merganser ducks at Lake Jacomo, Missouri

While we wait on our eagles to become more permanent fixtures of the lake (right now they come and go without any pattern, making it hard to video them), I have been following the many species of wintering ducks here at Lake Jacomo. One of those is the Hooded merganser duck (males have a white crested hood, females mostly brown). It is one of my most favorite ducks here, right along with the Buffleheads. Capturing this duck on video has proven difficult. They scare very easily and are fast to take flight. They never seem to visit the same place from day to day. They move around frequently and quite often, and I haven't been very successful capturing them. The advantage I had today was that the entire lake had frozen over due to the wintering storm that had passed over the weekend. There is only one spot on the lake that has open water. At the main marina, they keep "bubblers" turned on around the dock so that the ice doesn't build up and cause damage to the rental boats. This action prevents the water from icing over, so this is where a lot of the water fowl hangs out when the lake freezes over. I was very happy to see them here when I arrived. It took a lot of patience to 'crawl' down to a landing spot where I could set my gear up and then move into a closer position. Slowly and quietly, I was finally able to capture some video of the Hooded merganser. I hope you enjoy. Cheers.