January 06, 2023
Hooded Merganser

This week's Musings from Main welcomes back some of my migratory neighbors, the Hooded Merganser, just one of the of the many types of ducks that make the pond in my neighborhood their home!

You can join in the fun and look for Hooded Merganser ducks during the Hartford Audubon Society's Beginner Bird Walk #2  this Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 9am. This bird walk takes place at Station 43 Wildlife Sanctuary located just off Main Street in the South Windsor meadows . Details and contact information for trip leader, Jon Ward, are available on our website.

The Hooded Merganser Duck

Just the Basics
The Hooded Merganser is a small duck. In fact, it is the second smallest species of Merganser. They are about the size of a crow, and they are the only Merganser that lives entirely in North America.
They can be found year round in the north eastern United States making their homes in the cavities of trees and bird boxes near a fresh water source, such as a small pond or river. Dead trees are important part of their habitat and landowners can help them thrive by leaving dead trees standing on their property.
Most mergansers eat exclusively fish, but the Hooded Merganser has a much broader palate and incorporates aquatic insects, crustaceans (especially crayfish), amphibians, vegetation, and mollusks into their diet

Fancy Feathers

- Females and juvenile males Hooded Mergansers are mainly gray and brown, while adult males are easier to spot with black above, a white breast, and brown flanks. They have two black bars on their chests, and their lower backs have white stripes, reminding one of zebra stripes.

- Adult male Hooded Mergansers are striking to look at because of the prominent crests on their head. When they raise their crest it changes the shape of their head, making it look oversized and oblong. When open, the crests display huge white patches, which collapses into a thick white line when closed. Females have the same crest, but theirs is a more demure reddish-brown.

- This extravagant crest is on full display during courtship when several males with their crests raised, will flaunt their white patch, often shaking their heads to draw the females attention. In more flamboyant cases the male will engage in a dramatic movement called head-throwing, in which they **** their heads backwards to touch their backs, with crests raised, while giving a frog like croak.

Fun Facts

- Hooded Mergansers can see underwater! According to The Cornell Lab All About Birds website, "they can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a 'nictitating membrane,' which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles."

- Earlier in this Musing we discovered that the Hooded Merganser nests in tree cavities; but did you know that the ducklings leave their nest cavity within 24 hours of hatching? Again, according to the experts at The Cornell Lab, "First, their mother checks the area around the nest and calls to the nestlings from ground level. From inside the nest, the little fluff balls scramble up to the entrance hole and then flutter to the ground, which may be 50 feet or more below them. In some cases they have to walk half a mile or more with their mother to the nearest body of water," where they can swim and are able to find food on their own. The mothers will still tend to their extraordinarily self-reliant young and will lead them to abundant food sources, but only for a few weeks.

- Despite the Hooded Mergansers' questionable custom of having their day old descendants depart the nest with a bold leap to the ground, the species is fairly common. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population to be over a million and rates them 8 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score.

Thank You, Joe Wojnilo!
for your beautiful images of South Windsor Birds, and helping us fulfill our mission of bringing Nature alive!
Resources used for this Musing are listed below.

All about Birds, The Cornell Lab, Cornell University, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

Bird Advisors website, Hooded Merganser, https://www.birdadvisors.com/hooded-merganser/

If you live near the appropriate habitat for mergansers, and would like to put up a nest box, you can learn more about nest boxes on these Attract Birds pages. You'll find plans for building a nest box of the appropriate size on the All About Birdhouses site.