Duck the Zipper - A Hooded Merganser

My brother Jesse is a DJ who goes by the name N'YaBass. He's on the verge of putting out his first Album entitled "Duck the Zipper" about the emotions of his own fictional character of the same name. We had a discussion about the character and he asked me what ideas I had and if I would create an image that he could use for his Album Cover. The first thing that I thought of when I heard "duck" was that I definitely don't want to make yet another Daffy, Donald, or even Howard rip off. So I told Jesse that we need a new distinctive duck like a Wood Duck or a Merganser. He hadn't heard of a Wood Duck and thought that I literally meant a duck carved out of wood. I described the birds to him and he said "Cool." So I've been stewing over this for a night and I started working on some thumbnails and some other sketches of ducks. I had a list of other ducks including the Harlequin Duck, the Bufflehead, and the Barrow's Goldeneye. All very distinctive and ornate waterfowl in their own right, but I decided that the Hooded Merganser was the way to go. I saw many Common Merganser when I was in Alaska, last summer and remembered how much my grandmother really got excited when they came around the cabin.

A little info on the Hooded Merganser: The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is the smallest of the three merganser species occurring in North America. Male hooded mergansers have a large white crest surrounded by black. The top of the head, neck and back are all black, and the chest, breast and belly are white. Wavy black lines can be seen on the tawny sides and flanks. The hindback, rump and tail are dark brown. The long, narrow, serrated bill is black. The iris is bright yellow and the legs and feet are dull yellow.

These ducks feed by diving and swimming under water to collect small fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects.

I Liked this picture because all of the rest of the pictures were really nice and fluffy. This one shows the true and terrible nature of the savage male Merganser, preying upon this helpless crustacean. HAHAHAA!