What bird is this?

[buckcanyonlodge]

Way too much oxygen down there at sea level. Haters are going to hate . Nothing I say will make a diff to someone that already hates hunters.  By the way we have lots of mergansers here on Lake Roosevelt along with a sprinkling of mallards , goldeneyes , buffleheads , geese , and ringnecks. I watch them out my front window every day trying to escape the talons of the local golden and bald eagles. More than welcome to come up and "rid the Lake of those dastardly 'gansers"   ...OK Ok just kidding. Like you , I save my "postal" for the right moment..

[lokidog]

I've seen flocks as large as 500+ birds out here.  Fortunately when they are here, there is pretty much only herring, sculpin, and surf perch around for them to eat.

[h2ofowlr]

Biggest complaint about the start of this post is use google and make an attempt at identifying the bird prior to posting it.  It starts squabbles on every waterfowl forum I have been on when individuals do this.
ID the bird or know what your shooting before pulling the trigger!
It shouldn't be shoot it because it flies and then try to figure out what you shot!

[splitshot]

  could be a cormorant.  I thought mergansers were a bit smaller.  looks like a fisheater.   mike w

[McCRIZZLEY]

Biggest complaint about the start of this post is use google and make an attempt at identifying the bird prior to posting it.  It starts squabbles on every waterfowl forum I have been on when individuals do this.
ID the bird or know what your shooting before pulling the trigger!
It shouldn't be shoot it because it flies and then try to figure out what you shot!

Ouch. OP said that I DID NOT shoot it, I found it. I also said I tried ID'ing it on my own. I was referencing drawings and I could not place it as one. Does not seem that unreasonable as other people in here also struggle to ID with the photo.

[lokidog]

Biggest complaint about the start of this post is use google and make an attempt at identifying the bird prior to posting it.  It starts squabbles on every waterfowl forum I have been on when individuals do this.
ID the bird or know what your shooting before pulling the trigger!
It shouldn't be shoot it because it flies and then try to figure out what you shot!

Ouch. OP said that I DID NOT shoot it, I found it. I also said I tried ID'ing it on my own. I was referencing drawings and I could not place it as one. Does not seem that unreasonable as other people in here also struggle to ID with the photo.

It is good that you did not shoot first and ask later, as you mentioned in the OP.  However, I would recommend to anyone in the future finding a bird to take photos of it and leave it in place.  If it was a cormorant (Splitshot, it's not), and you were walking to your rig with it along with your ducks (even without ducks or gun), a warden will not care if you say you just found it, you will be ticketed for shooting/possessing a federally protected bird.

Also, bird ID needs a few things to make it easier, side and front views of the head, breast and wings and a length/wingspan size reference.  Fortunately, most ducks are fairly easy to recognize as most have been seen up close in hand.  Song birds can be quite difficult to ID, even in hand, as some like the Empidonax Flycatchers are3 pretty much only distinguishable by their song.

[Curly]

Well, there is one bird in the photo that was shot and the bird's ID was unknown to the shooter.  Luckily it is a legal bird (with a 25 bird limit if I remember right), but still ID should be known before pulling the trigger.    

(Just food for thought; not looking to get into an argument).

[lokidog]

Well, there is one bird in the photo that was shot and the bird's ID was unknown to the shooter.  Luckily it is a legal bird (with a 25 bird limit if I remember right), but still ID should be known before pulling the trigger.    

(Just food for thought; not looking to get into an argument).

Oh yeah, forgot about that one.   

[McCRIZZLEY]

Ha me too. Fair point.

[h2ofowlr]

Biggest complaint about the start of this post is use google and make an attempt at identifying the bird prior to posting it.  It starts squabbles on every waterfowl forum I have been on when individuals do this.
ID the bird or know what your shooting before pulling the trigger!
It shouldn't be shoot it because it flies and then try to figure out what you shot!

Ouch. OP said that I DID NOT shoot it, I found it. I also said I tried ID'ing it on my own. I was referencing drawings and I could not place it as one. Does not seem that unreasonable as other people in here also struggle to ID with the photo.

I typically also don't add dead or injured birds to the bag.  You may have something that died of illness or had been shot and finally died.  Opened up a few that were rotten around the pellet wound and the meat was turning green.  I let mother nature and it's critters feast on those. 

[lokidog]

That photo comes up as a Hooded Merganser hen.  That is what the one in the OP looks like versus a Common or Red-breasted. The size threw me a bit in the original post as it seemed too big to be a Hooded.  The other two have much more gray colored backs than the Hooded does though.

[h2ofowlr]

That photo comes up as a Hooded Merganser hen.  That is what the one in the OP looks like versus a Common or Red-breasted. The size threw me a bit in the original post as it seemed too big to be a Hooded.  The other two have much more gray colored backs than the Hooded does though.

If he would have had it laid next to a mallard, it would have been easier for most to ID.  The coot and buffie are both pretty small birds.  So, it makes the lawn dart look big.

[lokidog]

I see the Hooded Mergs all the time around Buffleheads, they don't seem that much bigger, but I guess they are.   

[270Shooter]

I wasn't advocating shooting mergs and leaving them. Just telling that's probably what someone did because that's how a lot of guys view them. I would never purposefully leave a bird, and I don't shoot mergs but I don't really get the opportunity to very often anyway.

[lokidog]

I wasn't advocating shooting mergs and leaving them. Just telling that's probably what someone did because that's how a lot of guys view them. I would never purposefully leave a bird, and I don't shoot mergs but I don't really get the opportunity to very often anyway.