Red-breasted Merganser
| Mergus serrator | Order: Anseriformes | Family: Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl) |
Mergus serrator
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl)
This distinctive duck takes 2 years to assume its funky adult plumage, the male and female both having a strangely windswept appearance thanks to the shaggy crest behind the head. It eats about 15–20 fish per day, which involves a lot of diving and underwater chases.
Unlike Common and Hooded Mergansers who both nest in cavities and Wood Duck boxes, the Red-breasted Merganser nests on the ground, alone or in gull and tern colonies.
Laura's Published Works
Radio Programs
- Like a Box of Chocolates 2023
- Woodson Art Museum "Birds in Art" 2020 2020
- Birds in Art: 2019 2019
- First Warbler Walk of the year 2017
- Pupdate: Pip at Eleven Months 2015
- Birding in Madison, Wisconsin 2013
- Hooded Merganser 2008
- This Winter 2005
- Why do birds have crests? And Baker's Blue Jay Hot Cereal 1990
- Crows and other spring arrivals 1988
- Robins 1987