By sketch.and.jam on Skatehive
It is winter and the Red-Breasted Mergansers have arrived on the Chicago River for this #featheredfriday There is a spot on the Chicago Riverwalk where the river branches at a 90 degree angle. This is where I usually see the Red-Breasted Mergansers in this area when it is quite cold but the river is still not frozen. If it wasn't so cold I could watch these guys for hours fishing then trying to steal fish from each other. The males have a black and purple spiked feather head and their breast is brown during the non-mating season. Later on in spring they get more reddish brown feathers hence their name. The females are more plain and brown as is usual in the bird world. They still have some spiked feathers though. This one caught some kind of polluted fish out of the river lol. She gulps it down as fast as possible to avoid others trying to steal the fish from her. Here is one in the darkness under one of the bridges. You can get fairly close to them right on the riverwalk's edge. The m