These are some of the creatures that I saw last summer at Lake Matinenda. A whole family of mergansers swam around the point in the early morning. I was drinking tea and writing in the very early morning. Suddenly they startled at something in the water and all rushed up on the rock ten feet from me. I froze and when they didn’t notice me, I slowly picked up my camera.
What were they scared of? There are pike and lake trout and otters…
I remember the first time I saw a merganser in a northern Ontario lake. I thought she had a saw-toothed back in addition to the punk-rock head feathers but it turned out she was carrying about 8 babies on her back. They are lovely birds and yes, we humans are nothing compared to a hungry pike or a muskie.