Red-Breasted Merganser
I went a different route at lunch yesterday, after realizing halfway to the park I’d forgotten the peanuts (can’t go out empty-handed). So after walking back to work to fetch my bag and start out again, I decided to try the Chicago River riverwalk to see how it’s faring, because Millennium Park soon will be too crowded and too crazy to visit every day, come warmer weather and passerine migration.
Not a lot to see yet on the way out to the lakefront, save the tile artwork inside the underpass that goes beneath Lake Shore Drive,
but when I got down to the harbor, there were Red-Breasted Mergansers everywhere.
There may have been a couple Coots, but it was otherwise Red-Breasted Merganserland. Except for people walking in the other direction which sometimes spooked the Mergansers,
I got close enough for some nice shots which is always lucky with the smaller lens and the 40D (my workday gear).
The female Red-Breasted Merganser below struggled quite a bit with her catch, until finally it was down the hatch.
On the way back, past Millennium’s north sculpture garden, I got a preview of the new exhibit. Colorful. Don’t know how the migrants will like it…
but it should attract a lot of people.
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Nice series of Red-breasted Merganzer images, Lisa. I love the merganzers, both these and the Hooded. I love your action shots of the one that is trying to eat that fish.
Thanks, Bob! I spared you the shot where there was blood spurting all over the water. 🙂
Shucks, I missed the excitement???
If I get around to it I might put the gorey one up on flickr. 🙂
That’s a big fish for that merganser, but it looks like she handled it just fine. Amazing how they can swallow a fish that size.
You did a good job with a small lens Lisa. Nice photos of the Merganser lunch makers! 🙂
Thanks. In a way the birds made it easy for me, there were so many of them and they weren’t shy.
She was determined, that’s for sure. At times she looked like “Now what do I do with this?”
Great pictures of the Merganser with the fish, especially the last two!
Thanks! Maybe I should start carrying a camera that shoots videos…although I kind of like the hit-or-miss in capturing stills. Plus I can only do one thing at a time… 🙂
What is it about watching birds eat? It’s always so cute, even when they are devouring another creature alive… I’ve had the same thought about video.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they’re so focused on eating they’re a bit more unflappable? Or the fact that we can observe them doing something for longer than a few seconds before they take off. I know, I must have just shot my 100,000th photo of a crow eating a peanut on a tree limb…