Lophodytes cucullatus: Hooded Merganser

Early this Fall I was walking around the pond and saw a small duck with a white patch behind its eye. Bufflehead or Merganser? I couldn't get a good look at its bill, so I thought it remain a mystery.

It was a nice day so I took another lap, and lo and behold, by the time I got around the pond again the little duck had come closer to the cattails and I got a look at the bill. It was long and thin: Merganser!


They seem to drag their tails when they swim... I wonder why.

Doodled from a photo in Rick Leche's Flickr photostream.