HOODED MERGANSER

Other common names: Saw-bill; Little Saw-bill.

Museum Specimen - Lake James (4370).

This little saw-bill is only half the size of the other two that are found in the United States, so size alone distinguishes it from the American or Red-breasted Mergansers.

The male in springtime is second only to the wood duck in beauty of plumage. In fact, here in Washington he is often mistaken for the latter bird. Strangely enough, the wood duck is on the increase due to Government protection while the little "hoodie" is getting rarer each year. And it's too bad, because the merganser is far the more interesting bird of the two.

In spring, the drake is pure white below, with black and white markings on the back. The sides are a beautiful cinnamon but it is his wonderful crest that sets off his attractiveness. When raised in excitement it extends from the back of the head to the base of the bill, is round in shape, and black and white in color. Truly, a striking and handsome bird! The smaller female is very modestly clothed in mottled gray above, white below, with a light brownish head. She, too, has a crest, of brown, not the size of the male. Both birds have the long narrow bill with saw-like edges.

The hooded merganser is a bird of fresh water and only frequents the salt water in winter. Its choice is a small pond or quiet lake in thick woods. The nesting site is a hole in a tree, any distance from the ground. The tall cottonwoods growing at the water's edge are their favorite selections. The hole itself may be a cavity in the trunk, or at the end of a broken limb. The nests are very hard to locate and even today the eggs are as rare in collections as those of almost any bird in the United States. A remarkable exhibition is given by the female when approaching the nest. She comes at full speed toward the hole and with seemingly no hesitation enters and disappears. Whether her feet touch the entrance or not, can not be seen; her actions are quicker than the watcher's eye!

They nest early in April before the Park lakes are open, with ten or eleven eggs the usual set. While no nesting records exist for the park the "hoodie" may nest along some of our open streams. Here is another interesting feature about this remarkable bird. The eggs are ivory-white and very round in shape. The remarkable thing, however, is the toughness of the shell. It is hard and smooth, much harder and stronger than any other bird's egg native to America. Ask the oologist or anyone trying to drill a hole in preparation; they know! There is no explanation to this oddity; the eggs of the other mergansers are not of such strength.

We have two August records for the park, at Lake James. One, an adult female, and later in the day four more circled the lake and lit.

These little saw-bills are much more vegetarian than the larger mergansers who live almost entirely on fish, so they need not be classed as a predatory enemy by the fishermen.

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AMERICAN MERGANSER

Other common names: Common Merganser; Saw-bill; Fish Duck; Shelldrake; Goosander.

Museum Specimen - Lake Louise (4590).

The male of this species is just as handsome as the female is plain. Picture him with red bill, black-greenish head, back black and white, flanks grayish, breast and under parts creamy-white and, to climax it all, the breast in spring takes on a salmon-pink shade, so delicate that it fades in death so no museum specimens show this wonderful coloring. Add red feet and legs end you have the picture. Contrast this with the female whose bill is not red, whose head is plain brown, neck white, upper parts grayish and underparts white.

The American merganser is mostly a fresh-water duck but frequents the salt water in winter. Nesting time begins in May. At this time pairs are seen along river bars or more inland lakes. The nesting site is usually a hole in a tree, the tall cottonwoods furnishing an ideal location. Twelve eggs is an average set, creamy-white and very handsome to the oologist in their cradle of down. The Nisqually River all the way from its mouth at Puget Sound to the park boundary is a favorite nesting stream, the park being about the uppermost end of the breeding range.

These mergansers were first recorded at Reflection Lake (Brockman) in 1936 and again in November 1937 (Kitchin) on Lake Louise. In the latter lake about 20 birds were feeding, mostly birds of the year. The flight of all mergansers is very direct. When disturbed on the water they will start which ever way their heads are pointing, so that a disturbed flock will scatter in all directions, coming together afterward. The flock at Lake Louise circled the lake several times to gain enough altitude so as to get over the hill to Reflection Lake.

These birds live almost entirely on small fish. In salt water they feed on herring, doing little damage. However, a pair in spring, feeding at the outlet of some small stream, can do a lot of harm.

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RED-BREASTED MERGANSER

Other common names: Shelldrake; Saw-bill; Fish-duck.

Museum Specimen - Longmire (2700).

Although very abundant on salt water in winter, this merganser is rare as a breeder in Washington. It appears on Puget Sound in winter, living entirely on a fish diet.

When a herring "ball" is located, these birds join other seabirds and gulls for the feast. It is interesting to watch their manouvers. The hovering gulls first locate the herring and their screams attract not only the mergansers and other ducks, but also auklets, murrelets and grebes who come tumbling into the mass of fish, diving instantly. This sends many fish to the surface to be taken by the gulls, while the salmon attack from below. Without the help of the diving birds the gulls would get nothing.

These mergansers have also learned to hunt in flocks. They can be seen in shallow bays where they circle a school of small fish, driving them toward the shore. At the last moment they make a rush and, with much splashing, drive the fish on the beach where they are eagerly caught and devoured.

The red-breasted merganser is not as large as the American and not as heavily built. The drake can be distinguished by the reddish band across the breast and by the loose crest at the back of the greenish-black head. The remainder of the underparts are white; back black fading to gray at rump; wings marked with white; sides gray and neck white. The female, like the American female, has a brown head and neck; upper parts grayish; underparts white and wings marked with white.

In flight these mergansers travel in a straight line, and when flushed scatter in all directions, to reassemble later. Though they are fish-eaters (mostly on salt water), they do little damage from a sportsman's viewpoint.

They nest on the ground near water differing from the tree-nesting mergansers. The nest is made of leaves and grasses and lined with down from the breast of the parent bird. Eight to ten buffy-white eggs are laid.

We have two records of the bird in the park - a pair observed by Taylor and Shaw at Ohanapecosh in the spring of 1919, and a single female bird found alive but crippled behind a building at Longmire in 1938. This bird came up the Nisqually River during a snowstorm.

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Descriptions continued...