Love the One You’re With Skip to content Love the One You’re With Birding, like fishing, is unpredictable, which can be either frustrating or exciting, depending on how you view it. As I noted here in 2002, I loved fishing with my dad as a kid, so, it’s probably not surprising that birding is exciting, not frustrating, for me. If you don’t see the Harlequin you were hoping/expecting to see, keep looking and you might see something equally exciting. On this weekend, that was the Red-breasted Merganser. I only saw two at Fort Flagler and they were both a long ways offshore, so far I could barely see them without my 840 mm telephoto lens, and, even then, this shot is heavily cropped. Still, it’s impossible to miss that dramatic hairdo. This shot of a male Red-breasted Merganser with a large Sole taken a few miles down the road at Mystery Bay State Park would have been the shot of the day if it hadn’t been for the green reflections in the water. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by two male Red-Breasted Mergansers when we visited the Marine Center at Fort Worden. It was a little disappointing that the two males never came closer even though I waited several minutes for them to come closer, but I was pleasantly surprised when three female Red-Breasted Mergansers swam right up to Marine Center dock where we were standing. This female sat on the beach nearby preening herself before rejoining the others and swimming right under us as they left, so close that I could never get all three females in the frame. It would seem ungrateful to complain about not seeing as many Harlequins as I had hoped to see when I saw so many Red-breasted Mergansers, a bird I seldom see around Tacoma. Share this: Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Like this: Like Loading... Related Author LorenPosted on February 8, 2022 February 8, 2022 Categories Washington Coast 4 thoughts on “Love the One You’re With” Brighid McCarthy says: February 8, 2022 at 1:46 pm Too you perhaps this was a disappointing venture, but the birds are still lovely! Loading... Reply Andrew Hidas says: February 8, 2022 at 2:44 pm Lovely shots, most of which had me wondering about the evolutionary function of that hairdo—any ideas? Loading... Reply Loren says: February 8, 2022 at 10:18 pm You’re really asking the guy who’s going bald what the evolutionary function of the merganser’s hairdo is? No idea, but it does distinguish it from a male Common Merganser that looks quite similar. My guess is that it has to do with attracting a mate. Loading... Reply WoodswomanWrites.com says: February 8, 2022 at 9:32 pm You are so right about going into a birding outing with an openness to whatever you find, and I love reading about your unexpected discoveries. And that shot of the merganser with the fish is incredible. Loading... Reply What do you think? Cancel reply This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Post navigation Previous Previous post: More of Fort Flagler Next Next post: More of the Same Email Loren Loren Webster Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 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