Down by the River – in the Snow

Fine snow was falling heavily as I walked along the river. In open water at the upstream end of some small islands a large group of common mergansers swam, often with their heads underwater, and repeatedly dove in search of fish –

As usual this time of year, the flock was made up almost entirely of male mergansers.

Speaking of mergansers, a pair of hooded mergansers swam along the edge of the river’s ice –

As can be seen in the photos of the hooded mergansers, the camera had trouble focusing on the birds and would often focus on the falling snowflakes – technology is far from perfect.

After walking further along the shore a raft of waterfowl far out in the river came into view. Again the birds were obscured by the falling snow, but it was fairly obvious they were common goldeneyes, mostly females –

Out of curiosity, when I was downloading the day’s images to the computer I asked a commonly used AI software to identify the birds. The answer was “ring-necked ducks” – obviously incorrect – technology is far from perfect.

Further along the river the peregrine falcons’ favorite tree came into view. And there they were, both birds of the pair of peregrines that nest beneath the nearby bridge. Unfortunately, they were on opposite sides of the tree and I couldn’t get both birds in one photo.

The female’s crop was bulging impressively, she’d obviously recently had a large meal, probably one of the rock pigeons from the bridge or its environs –

The smaller male that was perched nearby also had a bulging crop –

The snow, as fine as it was, was beginning to build up – time to head home.