Identity please (2 Viewers)

[kim]

Taken on Dee estuary at a distance

 

[kevinsl06]

Common Merganser I believe.

 

[kim]

Thank You... that's what I thought but 'expert'corrected me and said Goosander!!

 

[foresttwitcher]

Common Merganser is the name used in the USA for what we call Goosander.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Ok, this is where it gets confusing; Americans call Goosander Common Merganser! Red-breasted Merganser have the same name on both sides of the pond! Telling the difference- Goosander has a sharp cut off between the brown head, and the breast, while R-b Merganser bleed into each other. This looks Merganser like on plumage to me.

 

[kim]

Thankyou it is all a bit confusing!!!!

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Willing to be corrected if someone has a good reason why, it does look more Goosander shaped to me....

 

[Nutcracker]

Ditto to Goosander (Mergus merganser merganser).

Worth mentioning that while Common Merganser is the same species, it is a different subspecies (Mergus merganser americanus). This subspecies has not [yet] been recorded in Britain, but it must be high on the list of possible future additions to the British list :t:

 

[tarzzz]

Goosander on bill !

 

[kim]

Thank you all, Goosander it is .

 

[kevinsl06]

So a Goosander is the same thing as a Common Merganser?

 

[mummymonkey]

So a Goosander is the same thing as a Common Merganser?

Yes, Mergus merganser. This one looks like it hasn't missed many meals.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

So a Goosander is the same thing as a Common Merganser?

Yes, but on your side of the pond it’s an American sub species of the same species we have here - note the latin names

American Goosander
https://ebird.org/species/commer1?siteLanguage=en_GB

European
https://ebird.org/species/commer

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

I’ve learned quite a bit from this photo, so thanks for posting it. Careful observation of the position of the nostril is diagnostic between R-b Merganser and Goosander (including American Common Merganser) being further toward the tip in the latter, and this is what is shown in the photo. To distinguish the two subspecies, look at the feathering at the base of the bill, a straight edge would be American, so the photo is Goosander. The white chin is also good confirmation of the species identification. Nevertheless, I initially felt drawn to RBM; I expected a whiter chest on Goosander, and a sharper neck divide of brown from grey. Perhaps the angle is hiding a pale front, and , the more I look at the picture, the sharper the divide becomes. Thanks for the chance to learn; I prefer it when they are both visible on West Kirby Marine Lake!

 

[Nutcracker]

One other point no-one has mentioned yet; from the whitish lores (giving it a 'stripy' face), it is a juvenile. Juvenile Goosanders also have a less distinct neck divide of brown from grey, to answer Welsh Peregrine's note.
Adult female Goosander behind, juvenile in front: