HUNTING HORIZONS - Worldwide Hunting Seasons Database

The Red-breasted Merganser [Mergus serrator] is a diving duck whose breeding habitat is freshwater lakes and rivers across northern North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia, is migratory and many northern breeders winter in coastal waters further south, migrating in pairs or small flocks. Birds move from their northerly wintering breeding grounds to spend the winter, from September to May, in coastal areas, spring migration begins in March and peaks in April, continuing into May.


LENGTH: 52-58 cm
WEIGHT: 800-1350 g
WINGSPAN: 67-82 cm


Mergansers are a large, thin bird which in all plumages are scruffy in appearance, with long, thin orange bill and shaggy, spiky crest.


MALE: head iridescent greenish black, a white neck with a rusty breast speckled with black, a black back, long white patch along wings with outer parts black and white under parts and grey tail and red eyes. White patch in wing visible in flight.


FEMALE: a rusty head and a greyish body, chin dark or pale, gradually merging with chest colour, breast, back, wings and tail slate grey, belly and flanks white, bill scarlet-orange. White patch in wing visible in flight.


JUVENILES: like the female, but lack the white collar and have a smaller white wing patch.


HABITAT: Found on wetlands and open bodies of freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. In summer they are found in northern areas, usually coasts, lakes, and rivers near conifer forests or tundra. In winter and during migration they are found on protected waters along sea coasts and large, inland lakes and rivers.


FEEDING: They forage by diving and swimming under water, sometimes in cooperative groups, working schools of fish into shallow water. While the young eat mostly aquatic insects, adults primarily eat fish, crustaceans, insects, frogs and other aquatic creatures.


CALL: The call of the female is a rasping prrak-prrak, and the male gives a feeble hiccup-and-sneeze display.


FLIGHT: It has been claimed to be the fastest bird in level flight, reaching speeds of 129 km/h (80 mph).