Male Common Merganser In Flight

I find photos of ducks in flight difficult to come by and because of their speed mergansers are among the most challenging of all.

 

1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in

Usually I have a tough time getting close to Common Mergansers but four days ago this adult male unexpectedly came in so close he almost filled my viewfinder.

Black and white birds are difficult to expose properly almost by definition but the unusually brilliant whites of this species make them even more challenging. So I was happy to get a pretty good exposure on him that included his head turned at just the right angle to the sun to light up his iridescent greenish-black head and upper neck. More often than not their head just looks black.

But I find flight shots of Common Mergansers to be infinitely harder. They’re very fast flyers which makes them tough to track with a long lens and they usually don’t give any indication of imminent takeoff. So 35 minutes after this shot was taken…

 

 

1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in

I was delighted to get this pretty decent flight shot of another male as he flew low over the pond. He was one of several males flying in single file and I was able to lock on to him just long enough to get a single sharp photo. All the other shots in the burst were soft, a little or a lot.

Common Mergansers are fast flyers but the closely related Red-breasted Mergansers are faster. The fastest duck ever recorded was a male Red-breasted Merganser that attained a top airspeed of 100 mph while being pursued by an airplane. This eclipsed the previous duck speed record held by a Canvasback clocked at 72 mph. I don’t see Red-breasted Mergansers all that often but one of my goals is to get a sharp and detailed photo of one in flight.

Don’t hold your breath.

Ron

 

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33 Comments

  1. You nailed your target! I didn’t know ducks flew that fast but it makes sense of why Peregines need to be so fast.
    The colors of the rings on the bills of the 2 drakes is reversed – the sedentary one has black at the tip with lighter gray closer to the head whereas the flyer has white at the tip followed by a black ring.

  2. Add me to those who had no idea of just how fast ‘just’ a duck could fly.
    Beauty, education and wonder keep me coming back here – and there is often some laughter thrown in.
    Mega thanks. Again.

  3. That 35 minute wait really paid off. Hope there was a doughnut involved to help pass the time.
    I don’t know exactly how fast a bat out of hell takes off, but Red-breasted Mergansers are pretty common around here and I think their takeoff may beat the bat.
    I checked your last post of a Common Merganser. I hope that one-legged one is still around. Also, that post was taken last February so it may be time to make some more cheese manicotti. 😋

    • Lyle, I only eat a donut on mornings when I go shooting. These photos were taken in late afternoon.

      It’s crazy that you mentioned cheese manicotti today. I haven’t made it in many months but I’m planning on making it this afternoon. No kidding, I bought all the ingredients a couple of days ago. You’re prescient!

  4. They are beautiful, I wish they were more common year round. I had no idea they flew that fast!

  5. Arwen Professional Joy Seeker

    Poof coot! You are gone. 😀 I think you are hurting the feelings of photobombers everywhere. 😉

  6. Why am I laughing so hard at your postscript comment, “… but I made ‘him’ disappear”?? It really made me LOL. (Also, I seriously doubt such behavior will become a habit.)
    Those are two beautiful ducks — neither of whom I would ever suspect were capable of flying even half as fast as a Peregrine! (And of course, that clocked Merganser wasn’t stooping on prey—so really impressive!)

  7. Great reward for your efforts on both shots. With nice catch lights in both birds, I don’t know if it would get much better than this. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Everett F Sanborn

    My first thought was how aerodynamic he looks in flight. Even looks that way in the water. Excellent photography especially showing the green head that as you say so often looks black. We have lots of both Common and Hooded Mergansers here, but the Red-breasted are not as common,

  9. He is a stunner, beautifully captured. Very nicely done, Ron. Thank you!

  10. You have all my respect, Ron. The ducks in flight are so challenging. Your photos are very sharp. Thanks to present.

  11. I’d say challenge accepted and met.

  12. Thanks for the clarification link……I really appreciate how often you add
    these things for your followers’ benefit.

  13. NICE! The Mergansers certainly don’t tend to come close or hold still. Even their “running” on water is speedy……..😳 Both shots do the bird justice in my opinion……😀

  14. Longtime lurker, first-time poster here. I was struck by your merganser’s body shape, from bill to feet, like a perfectly streamlined missile piercing the air. Perhaps that could explain this handsome boy’s speed. Love your work.

  15. Both shots are VERY HANDSOME, in my opinion . Why on earth would
    an airplane “pursue” a bird in flight ? Just curiosity to see how far an
    animal could be pushed ? and if so– shameful !

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