Week 4 – Hooded Merganser

Boise has had a nasty inversion for the better part of January with almost no sunshine to speak of in the valley. However, while I was out hiking along the Boise River downriver of Glenwood Street on Sunday, the sun finally decided to come out! And what a beautiful day it turned out to be. I shot mostly video, trying to get more practice and obtain a nice 30-sec clip that I can release on Friday, February 1st for the first 12-month wildlife video clip. Stayed tuned for that!

I still managed to get some nice photos once the sun came out though. Ducks were my main focus as I saw Mallards, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye, Common and Hooded Mergansers, American Widgeons, Ring-necked Ducks, one Lesser Scaup, and one female Bufflehead. Other species of note were Pied-billed Grebe, Kingfisher, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Brown Creeper, and Song Sparrow, among others. By far the best duck photos of the day were of a temporarily cooperative male Hooded Merganser. He allowed me a few nice looks before flying off up-river with his female counterpart.

Male Hooded Merganser. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

This may be cheating, but I know there are going to be some weeks when it is near impossible for me to choose just one photo. Such was the case this week. Brown Creeper’s may be one of my favorite songbirds and towards the end of my walk along the Boise River a pair jumped out in front of me. They allowed me to approach very close without seeming to notice at all. Such cool and hardy little birds. It is amazing that a bird so small can survive the winter in such harsh conditions. Alas, I had to put this photo in here as this weeks runner up.

Week 4 runner-up: Brown Creeper. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.