This guy rules the pond

Bajadreamer

We live near a small community pond that has a large population of resident Mallards. While this Hooded Merganser is much smaller than the Mallards, he is definitely king of the pond. There is a small island with several rocks that are the favored perches for all the ducks. When this Merganser is present, he always gets the favored perch and will chase the Mallards away. While Hooded Mergansers are very uncommon to rare in San Diego County, this community pond has 2-5 of these birds every winter.