Six images of a Hooded merganser family minus Dad.

These images were taken the first day that this big family of Mother and 14 young were spotted in the pond. They are probably just a day or two old. The images are intended to show some of the difficulties faced and the capabilities of the young at this early age. Mom watches over them, but does on occasion leave them for short periods. Mom does not feed the young, they have to get their own grub from the moment they hatch and leave the nest. The group generally sticks to Mom except that four or five of the young have a tendency to wander off on their own, foraging and/or diving for food as they go.

During the first two days, six of the young disappeared, probably dinner to a Snapping Turtle, Muskrat, Gull etc. One was found later floating in the weeds, and may have died from lack of food, exhaustion or the cold nights. The remaining eight young survived the first week and are now getting much bigger and faster.

Top image: Mom with ten of the fourteen young shown. The other four are some distance away.


Some of the young scurrying up the embankment for a huddle and rest.


The huddling/resting young being eyed by a Common Grackle.


Two of the wayward young paddling back towards Mom and the rest of the brood.


Afraid of being left on its own, this little one scurries back to Mom too.


This little one was too preoccupied to get back to Mom. It had caught dinner (perhaps a Dragonfly) and didn't quite know what to do with it. It swam around with it on its own for quite some time and I assume that in the end it figured out how to get it down.