Great pics! Certainly better than mine, at least. I've never photographed Common Mergansers close up..just tiny specks I immediately deleted.

Hi rachel, thanks for the kind words!

You do kind of have to play "hide and seek" with them. This waterway is along an abandoned RR track. I got to hide along one of the bridge tressels. But this pair was quite patient with me. That's what makes me wonder - maybe this pair is older?

Wow, my math is really lacking 4+4=7 Oh my.
Three drakes, 2 mating pairs = 7 Yes, that's it.

The mergansers are in the same spot every day right now, because most of the ponds around here are still frozen. In a week or two, I won't be able to find them so easily.

We live way out in the country. My neighbor has a small pond, borders our yard. Some early springs, a merganser pair will stay for a week or two. Probably the same pair, every year when they do show up, extremely shy. I sit out there with a plastic lawn chair and watch. They are amazing.

The pair in our pond dive like synchronized swimmers. Both dive at the same time, and surface at the same time.

If they show up, it's about about three or four weeks from now. I hope to see them.