Male hooded merganser Nov 18, 2025

The quiet waterways of Oregon, United States, offer the perfect setting 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

Nov 18, 2023Polar bear mother and cubs
Nov 18, 2024Porthcawl lighthouse, Wales

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 1, 2025Natural arch carved in an iceberg, Antarctica
Jun 13, 2024Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Jul 13, 2024Fairy chimneys and cave dwellings in Cappadocia, Türkiye
Oct 28, 2023Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Aug 3, 2024Three Natural Bridges, Wulong National Park, China
Sep 3, 2024Crystal Lake in the Enchantments, Washington, United States
Oct 26, 2025Pumpkin farm, North Carolina
Oct 13, 2023Vieste, Apulia, Italy
Apr 17, 2025Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
May 7, 2026Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona, United States
Nov 13, 2023Serra de Tramuntana, Balearic Islands, Majorca, Spain
Apr 27, 2026The glass dome of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy
Sep 27, 2024Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy
Mar 22, 2026Lake Tanganyika, Africa
May 27, 2026Sea otter, Kachemak Bay, Homer, Alaska, United States
Oct 7, 2023Grizzly bears, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA
Nov 28, 2025Val Brandet, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy
Jul 15, 2025Great Basin National Park, Nevada, United States
Oct 27, 2023Sligachan Old Bridge, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Jan 12, 2026Eurasian otters
May 10, 2026Polar bears in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada
Jul 13, 2025Basalt columns in Kálfshamarsvík cove, Skagi peninsula, Iceland
Sep 26, 2023Venice Skatepark, Los Angeles, California, USA
Mar 19, 2024Tree frog on leaf
Jan 10, 2026The Matterhorn reflected in Lake Stellisee at sunrise, Zermatt, Switzerland
Dec 18, 2023Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA
Jul 25, 2024Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, USA
Apr 2, 2025Sandstone formations in the badlands near Caineville, Utah, United States
Feb 17, 2024The Pragser Wildsee in the Dolomites, Italy
Dec 2, 2023Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India