March 17, 2014

Common Mergansers - An Unmatched Pair

Grabbed a few shots of waterfowl on the river Saturday.  Came up with this lovely, unmatched pair of common mergansers.


The male and female look nothing alike, as far as coloring goes.  However, they do have the same basic body shape and bill shape.

The male is white, with a greenish-black head, black back feathers, and a red bill.


The female is more of an overall silver-grey with a white chin patch, rusty brown head (with crest) and a red bill.


Common mergansers are sometimes called sawbills because of their serrated beaks - the only ducks to have such a feature. Another interesting fact about them is that the females are crested, but the males are not.

They may not look like a matched set, but these two were very happy to be sailing along together, and in a relatively short time they will be building a nest and sitting on some eggs!

I've written about mergansers before, here:
 http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/2013/02/another-merganser.html

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