Hooded Siblings and a ID correction

I posted a photo a week or so ago of what I thought was a young male hoodie.
I had seen these young siblings together a couple of weeks back and they looked very similar
and I mistakenly thought the female was the male and vice versa.
A couple of weeks later and it is obvious who is who.
The young male is changing rapidly, even getting some white on the head.
I feel very lucky to have access to the pair as they are growing up.
Taken this morning in the rain.

1/250, f6.3, iso1000, 500mm (300 f2.8 w/ 1.7tc), D800, HH

DSC_5817bp.jpg

Nice image, Dan. I like the similar pose and activity of the two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dankearl

I posted a photo a week or so ago of what I thought was a young male hoodie.
I had seen these young siblings together a couple of weeks back and they looked very similar
and I mistakenly thought the female was the male and vice versa.
A couple of weeks later and it is obvious who is who.
The young male is changing rapidly, even getting some white on the head.
I feel very lucky to have access to the pair as they are growing up.
Taken this morning in the rain.

1/250, f6.3, iso1000, 500mm (300 f2.8 w/ 1.7tc), D800, HH

DSC_5817bp.jpg

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Hi Dan

Both are males, given their yellow eyes & all black bills. :w3 These usually develop late in their 1st winter or in spring, so separating them from their female siblings. Immature males resemble adults by their 2nd winter.

Adult females & juveniles (both sexes) have brown eyes, plus a yellow base to the lower mandible. Although adult males in eclipse can also have yellow bases to the lower mandible, the bill is usually darker than on females/juveniles.

Cheers: Wayne.

PS: I surmise that one is simply older than the other or more advanced in its moult.

Wayne, thanks a lot for the info.
I did think because of eye that it was a male, but the two have been hanging out together for at least 3 weeks in the pond and the one is changing so rapidly that I thought the one that has not changed must be a female.
Thanks for the clarification, I have never really witnessed young Mergansers at this life stage.

Hope the mods don't mind, here is another frame showing them more distinctly.
They certainly are different and the "brown" one appears to be the dominate one.
The one that is distinctly a male follows the other one around.
Fascinating that they are both males.

DSC_5818bp.jpg

Both are neat images of the species in regards to plumage development. You ARE lucky to have this opportunity. Actually, I think the second image posted is more aesthetically pleasing. I enjoy the looser composition, great eye contact from the subjects!, and the rain drops are a great feature to the image, not really seen in the OP. I like the habitat included in both images.

Nice images you have of these birds, i too like the second post more
sharpness looks nice, falling drops make it interesting