Lophodytes cucullatus

Description

The female hooded merganser is a gray-brown duck with a white belly, a thin bill, and a long tail. She also has a brown crest on the top of her head. The breeding male has a long tail, a thin bill, a black head and neck, a white breast and belly, and reddish-brown sides. He has a black back with white stripes, two black bars dropping down onto his breast, and a crest on his head with a large white patch.

Voice

The hooded merganser has a croaking call.

Breeding

September to June

Habitat

Hooded mergansers like wooded lakes, bays, ponds, and rivers. They build their nests in tree cavities.

Diet

These diving ducks eat fish, crustaceans, and insects that they catch in the water.

Range

You can find these ducks in Canada and the northernmost United States (including VT and NH) during the summer and in the southeastern United States and along the western coast in the wintertime. They live year-round in the northeastern United States.

Other Useful Information

These birds can swim underwater for several minutes and they like to stay in small flocks.

Similar Species

The male bufflehead has a head patch similar to the male hooded merganser, but the bufflehead has white sides and he does not have the merganser's thin bill. Other female mergansers are very similar to the female hooded merganser, but they are larger and have red bills. Also the female hoodes merganser has a gray head, while most female mergansers have reddish-brown heads.