Merganser (Common)

Mergansers are fresh water fish eaters found around the deeper lakes of Muskoka. These duck have a hard time taking off on the water because their feet are placed far back on their body.

Males are mostly white with black on their body with a green head and long narrow orange bill. Females have a greyish body with a rusty coloured head.

Young Common Mergansers leave their nest hole within a day or so of hatching. The mother protects the chicks, but she does not feed them. They dive to catch all of their own food. They eat mostly aquatic insects at first, but switch over to fish when they are about 12 days old.

Photographed on Pine Lake, Gravenhurst, ON