Despite knowing of mergansers for many years, I did not see one in the wild until I began this challenge. Even though they are a common waterfowl in New Hampshire, the hooded merganser happened to be one of the first few birds on the list that I had not seen before and that fact makes them special in my book. There is a sense of excitement that comes along with photographing such a distinctive looking bird for the first time. I love the look of these hooded mergansers having just come in for a landing with their crests being backlit by the setting sun in this photo below.

As with the other two species of mergansers on this list, the hooded merganser mainly feeds on fish and other small aquatic life. They can be seen busily diving for food and it is an exciting experience to see one come up with a wriggling fish in its bill. I got to see result of one such successful dive. When thinking about how quickly a fish can move underwater, it amazes me to think of how fast and adept these birds are at catching them. I was concealed on the bank of a lake when this hooded merganser swam close by. My eyes lit up when it resurfaced with a fish - much larger than I would have expected!