Hooded Mergansers are back in Central Florida

One of the sure signs that Thanksgiving is near is the return of Hooded Merganser ducks to Central Florida.

This is the third consecutive year I’ve photographed these striking-looking birds at a pond in Oviedo, and they usually arrive when it’s close to Thanksgiving. On Sunday morning — just four days away from turkey day — there were 11 of them swimming around.

The group included several males, who have black faces with white “hoods” and yellow eyes; several females with their cinnamon coloring and brown eyes; and, for the first time for me, a couple of juvenile males who look like the females except they have yellow eyes.

These little ducks can usually be found year-round across most of the eastern states except Florida – where they come for a winter vacation. These ducks will later fly to the northern Midwest and Canada to breed.

The Hooded Mergansers are fun to watch, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of them over the next several weeks.