Q: I snapped a photo of a female hooded merganser leading her ducklings in the water. But here’s the strange part: They weren’t all the same species as their mother — some were wood ducks ...

Without a doubt, they’re tougher to splash than a wood duck. As for their kitchen quality — well, while the wood duck is prized table fare, the fishy breast meat of a hooded merganser can be ...

The hooded merganser and wood duck do have something in common; they both nest in holes in large trees. If I can find this little merganser on my brook in winter, I have faith that I will someday ...

What is most interesting, and even a little surprising, is the fact that hooded mergansers nest up in trees. Wood ducks are well-known tree nesters, but they are by no means the only species that ...

The first time you spot a hooded merganser you might think “that’s a strange-looking duck! All three of our mergansers are viewed as rather odd-looking diving ducks since their bills ...

The hooded merganser is actually a small duck that nests in tree cavities and dives under water to eat small fish, tadpoles, aquatic insects, crayfish and plant matter. They are about the same ...

Red-breasted merganser is descriptive – of the male, about half the year. Hooded merganser is also descriptive, and cleverly so. And don’t even get me started on the Eurasian merganser, the smew.

Spring Lane, Newburyport: Hooded Merganser, Dark-eyed Junco, Ring-necked Duck Artichoke Reservoir, West Newbury: Turkey Vulture Pine Island Road, Newbury: Sharp-shinned Hawk ...