Common Merganser – Length: 25 inches, Wing span: 34 inches
The Common Merganser is a large, piscivorus duck, which means that that it eats fish. In much of the rest of the world, the Common Merganser is known as the Goosander. A popular nickname is sawbill, because of the serrations on its bill that help it grab and hold slippery fish.
Common Mergansers can fly about 45 miles per hour, and they are accomplished divers as well. Typical dives last about 30 seconds and go 6 to 15 feet below the surface. Common Mergansers can sleep on the water, but they prefer to find a rock or log surrounded by water on which to sleep.
Females have gray flanks and upperparts, a brown head with a shaggy crest at the rear, and bright white chin and throat. Photograph © Tom Grey.
Females, juveniles and males in non-breeding plumage (typically July – October) are very similar in appearance. Photograph © Glenn Bartley.
The Common Merganser presents a long, thin profile. Photograph © Sam Crowe.
Photograph © Sam Crowe.
The amount of visible white in the wing varies. This bird seems to have 2 distinct areas of white on the wing, possibly indicating a male in non-breeding (eclipse) plumage. First spring males retain the reddish head of the female before molting into adult plumage. Photograph © Sam Crowe.
Note white patch on inside top of the wing, separated with a thin black bar. Photograph © Glenn Bartley.
Female in flight. Large white patch on the underside of the wing. Photograph © Greg Lavaty.
Fairly short, pointed wings. One female with 4 males. Photograph © Greg Lavaty.