Well, my sources are silent on the subject of their exact pairing habits, so let’s suppose that this is the case. Anyway, I brought my camera with me today and so was able to spot both the male and the female common merganser on the river, and you can better see their long slender bills and pretty coloration.
It took awhile this morning for them to swim close enough together so that I could capture them both in a single image, and in the few I have of them both, she’s appears to be explaining something to him in more than one. Anne suggests she was telling him to keep up.
Finally, here’s a picture just for fun.
PS. Still no ermine pictures, Carolyn. Sorry.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
Love the merganser pics! Didn’t know they stuck around in winter. Good pic of frozen whale tail. Tell Lois and Drew hi at happy hour this week.
Grateful Gail
NEW email address: glevin4930@gmail.com
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Looks like Ms. Mallard was giving you some what-for.
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Haha I agree with Anne! They are beautiful birds ~ we see them at the lake once in awhile. Thanks for sharing.
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