Common Merganser
Mergus merganser

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Mergus

Audio for Species

Call
Song

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Common Merganser Pictures

Description

Length: 18-28 in (45.72-71 cm) Weight: 31.7-76.2 oz (900-2160 g) Wingspan: 33.9-37 in (86-93.98 cm)

They are large diving ducks. Both sexes have a long, thin, orange bill; orange legs and feet.

Adult male has a greenish-black head and upper neck. with white lower nesk, breast, flanks and belly. Their back is black as is the upperwing coverts with white shoulders, white secondary coverts crossed with indistinct dark bar.

Adult female has a red-brown head that ends with a crisp line at the nesk that is white through to the breast. The chin is white. the head has a short, uneven crest. The breast, wings, back and tail are slate. Belly and flanks are white. Tere is a white patch on the wings.

Immature similar to adult female, often with a less-distinct chin patch.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Primary winter habitats are large lakes, reservoirs, rivers, as well as coastal bays, estuaries and harbors of the Atlantic and Pacific, wherever sufficient food is found. Their breeding habitats are lakes and rivers bordered by mature forests to provide suitable tree cavities. Rock cavities, spaces among tree roots, and holes in banks may be used in some areas; northern limit of breeding range follows the limit of open boreal forests. The nest in the cavity scratched up and down from the female's breast and sometimes grass is used for the lining. The clutch size is 6 to 17 eggs. that are a creamy white.

The common Merganser's diet consists of mostly small fish, with insects, mollusks, crustaceans, frogs, worms, plants, small mammals and birds filling out the menu.