Male hooded merganser, Oregon, United States Nov 18, 2025

Male hooded merganser, Oregon, United States

Each autumn, the quiet waterways of Oregon, United States, become seasonal waypoints for hooded mergansers—small diving ducks native to North America. They are agile divers, plunging beneath the surface to catch fish and other prey. Males, known as drakes, stand out with their fan-shaped white crests, dark heads and chestnut-brown sides, while females, called hens, are brownish grey with smaller crests. Oregon"s lakes and wetlands provide sheltered feeding grounds as these birds migrate or winter across the continent.

© Eric Vogt/TANDEM Stills + Motion

palette

Today in History

Keyholes to the kingdom
Nov 18, 2023Polar bear mother and cubs, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
Nov 18, 2024Porthcawl lighthouse, Wales, United Kingdom

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 17, 2024Kochia, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Mar 26, 2026Logan Creek Suspension Bridge, West Coast Trail, Canada
Mar 12, 2025Château de Sully-sur-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France
‘Spotting’ deer in the wild
Apr 8, 2024Burrowing owl chicks
Dec 13, 2025Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Jan 17, 2025Brown pelican, San Diego, California, United States
Jul 22, 2025Badlands National Park, South Dakota, United States
May 21, 2025International Tea Day
Feb 14, 2024Vasant Panchmi
Mar 1, 2024The holy city of Varanasi
May 25, 2024Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
Rising with the sun
Stealthy pollinators
Kickoff in Qatar
Sep 13, 2024Point Reyes National Seashore, California, USA
Nov 9, 2023Birch trees, Drammen, Norway
Oct 15, 2023European hedgehog
Jan 21, 2026Sand dunes in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan
More of a moustache than a beard?
Colours of Colorado
Festival fever
Jul 20, 2024International Moon Day
Aug 27, 2025Ganesh Chaturthi
Oct 27, 2025Chhath Puja
Jul 30, 2024San Gimignano, Siena, Italy
A little bird told me...
Feb 7, 2024St. James Tidal Pool, Cape Town, South Africa
What’s your favorite colour?
Jan 23, 2024Maldives