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…