Alternative name: Goosander
- Mergus merganser
Identification
Adult Male
- Greenish-black head and upper neck
- White breast, flanks and belly
- Black back and upperwing coverts with white scapulars
- White secondary coverts crossed with indistinct dark bar
- Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
- Similar to adult female
Adult Female
- Red-brown head meets pale breast in crisp line of division
- Well-defined white chin
- White breast and belly
- Pale gray body plumage
Similar Species
Female may be confused with female Red-breasted Merganser. Common shows a distinct division between head and chest. Crest is also less shaggy than female Red-breasted.
Distribution
Breeding
Europe
Breeds in Iceland and north and west Britain, throughout Scandinavia and across Northern Europe from Poland eastwards. Scattered and isolated populations in the Alps, Denmark, Germany, and furthest south of all, very small numbers breed in northern Greece at Lake Prespa. Occasionally breeds far south of normal range and has bred several times in the Czech Republic and in Ireland. Bred for the first time in the Netherlands in 1996.
Asia
Breeds across Central and northern Asia to northern China, Sakhalin and occasionally Hokkaido.
North America
Breeds in south-east Alaska and western Canada across the forest zone of central Canada and east to Newfoundland. In the USA breeds in the north-east and around the Great Lakes, and in the west range extends south to northern California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Northernmost populations are migratory, most others resident or partial migrants, moving to coastal areas close to breeding site. In winter found in southern Britain and northern France east to Poland and in coastal Norway and Sweden. Small numbers also winter in Central Europe, the northern Mediterranean and the Black and Caspian Seas. In the Far East winters from Japan southwards and in North America winters over much of the USA except the north-central states and the Gulf Coast.
Vagrant to Greenland, the Faroes and Svalbard and south to Portugal and Spain, the Mediterranean islands, North Africa and Israel, also recorded on Bermuda.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 3 subspecies[1]: Nominate race breeds in Europe and northern Asia; the larger and finer-billed race comatus in Central Asia and americanus in North America which has deeper base to bill and male has dark bar across bases of median coverts.
Habitat
Breeds along rivers and lakeshores in wooded areas, sometimes on moorland, on passage and in winter on large freshwaters, ofen reservoirs and gravel-pits, sometimes estuaries but rarely on the sea.
Behaviour
The diet includes fish, mussels, shrimp, and aquatic insects.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Mergus merganser (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Common Merganser. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Merganser
External Links
This link searches for Common Goosander
