Hooded Merganser?

[Cheetah]

Hey guys, anyone know if these are Hooded Mergansers? I saw them over in Polk County, WI. I've never seen them before. I found some drawings that looked like them on the NPWRC site. They were being chased down the creek by a pair of wood ducks that didn't like having them around. For size reference, they were no bigger than the wood ducks, maybe slightly smaller even. They swam past me about 10 feet away.

And here are the wood ducks that chased them away.

Thanks for any assistance. It was a neat thing to see, those woodies were whistling like crazy at them to drive them away. Wish I had a nicer camera with me, the 3x zoom on my little point and shoot only got a couple decent pictures of each group.

[IL Res]

I agree w/ you. I think they're Hoodies. The thin bill is characteristic. Seems strange that you would find them in a shallow creek though as they are primarily fish eaters/ divers. Must have been just passing through. Beatiful pictures.

[#fishhunt#]

Female Hooded Mergs

[Will]

Yep,, hoodies

[LandDr]

Hoodies on top photo.

And a drake and hen woodduck on bottom photo.

[shortfatguy]

Definitely Hoodrats.