>From earlier message:

<< Yesterday afternoon on Lk Wa just N of Leschi marina (near dance studio),
I saw a hoody-shaped bird but she was dark all over w/ a slightly lighter
hood. No markings as in my book. Assumed a female hooded merganser, but
what do y'all think? Saw no male. Did she common mergs further N. >>

I have noticed the same thing in the female hooded mergansers that I have
been seeing in the Kent area. All that I have seen have been in pairs, and
the male is marked like the ones in my books, while the females appear to be
darker and more evenly colored than what I find in the Audubon field guide.

"The Old Fishing Hole" in Kent currently has a couple pair of these, and Lake
Fenwick has 2 or 3 pair as well. Also, the Westwood Estates apartment
complex has a small pond with the usual Mallards, but also a pair of Hooded
Mergansers, and sometimes Ring-necked and Gadwalls and others as well. I
watched a male Hooded Merganser eat a small fish there the other day, so the
pond must be stocked. It has a continuous sprayer that keeps the pond
aerated. Also have seen Blue Heron there, saw one today. This pond is right
next to the Lake Fenwick Trail, and almost under the long (200 yards?) wooden
bridge which terminates the trail just outside of the apartment complex.

Jim Brewster
Kent Washington