female
Common Merganser
(Mergus merganser)
Photographed on Pine Lake, Muskoka, ON Oct 2007
Mergansers are fresh water fish
eaters found around the deeper lakes of Muskoka. These ducks have a hard time
taking off on the water because their feet are placed far back on their body. Males are mostly white with black on
their body with a green head and long narrow orange bill. Females have a greyish body with a
rusty coloured head.
Young Common Mergansers leave their
nest hole within a day or so of hatching. The mother protects the chicks, but
she does not feed them. They dive to catch all of their own food. They eat
mostly aquatic insects at first, but switch over to fish when they are about 12
days old.
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