Okay, it's the Common Merganser, but the lame joke is hard to pass up since these guys aren't that easy to come by. When I do see them they are almost invariably flying by low and fast over the water, so I personally dub them Cruise Missile Ducks. Common Merganser's are among the first birds to return to the Toronto area in the spring and while - as I've said - they're not exactly plentiful, they aren't endangered. They are more common than their cousins, the Hooded Mergansers.
Speaking of an early spring, it's been a very mild winter which may mean the birdies will be back early this year. Over the next few days and weeks we'll be easing out of our standard winter hiatus to get you primed for the new season.
And if you haven't noticed, Blogger has updated things so that now if you click on an image you get a nice display interface to view things at a larger size. Try it out.
