| Common Merganser (Mergus merganser (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Mergus merganser (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Common Merganser Other names: Goosander. French name: Harle bièvre, Grand Harle, Grand bec-scie (North America). Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Size: Body size: 58 to 66 cm; Wing span: 82 to 97 cm; Weight: 1050 to 1650 g Habitat: This fresh water duck is found on large rivers and near the banks of ponds and lakes with a preference for clear water. Food: Small fishes caught with its long thin toothed bill while diving under water as deep as 10 meters. Nesting: The nest is usually located in a hole of an old tree and sometimes on the ground. Females lay 8 to 12 eggs in April-May. Migration: Partially migratory. Northern birds move southwards depending of temperature. Geographic area: Europe, central and northern Asia, North America. |
Male Common Mergansers have a dark green head with a few erected feathers at the back forming some kind of a small crest. The thin and hooked bill is red. The chest and the sides of the body are white, the middle of the back is black. The wings are white and black. The rump and the tail are grey. Females and immature birds have a brown head, a white neck and a grey body. |
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This picture has only an ornithological interest. I had never seen any Common Merganser on these ponds of the Paris region before. The time to walk to the other side of the pond, hoping a closer view, and the Common Merganser has disappeared. |
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Here is a new sighting of Common Merganser a little further from my base camp. The distance is still important and I cropped the view. |
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Moving away from the paparazzi. |
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Here is another sighting even further from my base camp and this time the paparazzi is in a canoe. |
André Bon February 2023