Hooded merganser (female)

Description:

The adult female has a greyish-brown body, with a narrow white patch over the lower breast and belly. She has a light reddish-brown crest extending from the back of the head. During the nonbreeding season the male looks similar to the female, except that his eyes are yellow and the female's eyes are brown. In breeding plumage the dorsal areas and the head, neck and breast of the mature male are mainly black with white markings; there are large white patches on either side of the crest, and they are particularly conspicuous when he raises his crest during courtship. His lower flanks are a rich reddish-brown or chestnut in colour, and the breast and undersides are more or less white, extending into white stripes across the crop and breast. In both sexes there are narrower pencilled white stripes along the tertial wing feathers; when the bird is in repose, then if the tertial feather stripes are visible, they have the appearance of longitudinal white stripes along the bird's lower back.- Wikipedia.

Habitat:

Spotted at Brooks lake in the West Hylebos Wetland Park.