During a brief spot of reasonable weather a couple of weeks ago, a stunning red breasted merganser dropped in at our local patch. Due to the great distance from the sea this was a rare sighting. The evening light allowed for great views of its metallic plumage. This male saw-bill had arrived with a female goosander instead of another merganser, which caused the female to lose interest in him quite quickly, but they both hung around for about a week.
In addition to this the merganser was becoming more desperate and he decided to display to a mute swan. This unusual behaviour was incredible to watch since the swan also appeared to be responding to the display.
I was lucky to get that footage and I hope that the merganser had better luck elsewhere.
Fantastic blog, love your original observations. Look forward to reading the next one.
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great vid of the RB Merg!
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Thanks
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