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The male Common Merganser is white and black, with a green head, and long, thin red bill. Females have a gray body and sides, a reddish-brown head, and a white neck. They have a narrow bill, with a hooked upper mandible and fine saw-like teeth along the edges, perfect for catching slippery fish, their main food source. They are found near shorelines and rivers, staying away from larger bodies of water and their biggest competition, the Loon, which would surely try to kill them. They often gather in groups, facing upstream and diving for fish.
Females lay 9 to 12 pale yellow or ivory eggs in a down-lined tree cavity, or occasionally on the ground or in an abandoned nest. A migrating bird, the Common Merganser returns to the Algonquin Highlands in early April, when the ice begins to melt. Males leave only two months later, as soon as the mating season ends. Females stay through the summer, incubating and raising the young. It is a common site in the summertime to see a female surrounded by youngsters swimming along the shore.
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COMMON MERGANSER
Mergus merganser
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