They fly with fast whirring wings, in straightaway flight, often making wide, sweeping turns, heads compressed, looking very narrow with its stick-like bill. They inhabit the swamps, wooded marshes, tree-edged ponds and lakes, river mouths into the salty waters of the Chesapeake and in the big tidal rivers where water starts is fresh. They are the mergansers, often called fish ducks or sawbills. 

     Virginia has three kinds of mergansers; the hooded, which is the smallest; the red-breasted, which is medium sized, and the common or American, which is the largest. Mergansers have narrow, cylindrical bills that have fine serrated, or sawtooth edges that angle backward, giving rise to the nickname "sawbill," or "bec scie," as it is known in Cajun Louisiana. The toothy edges enable them to catch and grasp slippery fish, their main food and the reason they are referred to as "fish ducks." These birds are excellent swimmers and divers, and very quick underwater. They literally "fly" underwater using their wings as well as their feet. They are also skittish when you come near them on the water, and must run for a short distance to get airborne. Conversely, they are not very mobile on land. With legs and feet set far back on their bodies, they often stumble forward onto their breast, and have to push themselves forward on land with feet kicking in a half walk-half push method.

     Other than size and of course colors and markings, the three merganser types are somewhat separated by their favored habitat. Hooded mergansers tend to like the swampy, or tree-edged marshes, lakes and ponds, although you will see them in open water or backwater sloughs of tidal rivers, but mainly in fresh or brackish waters. Red-breasted mergansers have a definite affinity to saltier waters and are common off the ocean coasts in winter, but will come into the bigger rivers and river mouths emptying into salt water. You can often see them off the Bay Bridge-Tunnel or at Kiptopeke State Park on Eastern Shore. Common mergansers seem to prefer the big open water of tidal rivers farther up where the water is fresh. In fact, in some years few of them venture this far south.

     The hooded merganser is the smallest of the three and the most common wintering merganser in Virginia. It has a host of other colorful local names including swamp sheldrake, tree sawbill, fan-crested duck, water pheasant, pheasant duck, round-crested duck, fuzzy head, hairy headed teal, shagpoll, and cottonhead. This bird prefers the timbered waters, slow-moving rivers, quiet swamps, calm ponds, marsh sloughs and lake coves. Actually, they inhabit the same types of water you'll find wood ducks and black ducks in, although it doesn't associate directly with these ducks.

     Hooded mergansers are about 17-18 inches long and weigh about 1-1/2 pounds. The male hooded is black above, white below with light, rufous-brown sides, finely waved with dark brown or black. It has two black hash marks on its forward sides. Its most outstanding feature is its semi-circular white crest, edged in black, which can be opened and closed like a fan. These are especially noticeable during the spring courtship, as they open and depress them to impress a female. In flight the crest is depressed into a narrow white line behind the eye, head narrowed, and carried maybe even a little below body level. Sometimes its rapidly beating wings emit a quiet whistling sound. Both sexes show a lot of flashing white from their wing speculums. The female is basically brownish-gray with a brownish head and a fuzzy, cinnamon-tinted crest. 

     Hooded mergansers are wary and alert, usually found in pairs or small flocks of 5-8 birds. In winter the whole group may be all males but, as spring approaches, there may be one or two females with them. They swim about buoyantly sometimes forming a feeding line as they dive almost in unison for small fish and other small aquatic creatures. They will land with a big, sliding splash and swim inshore to feed. When startled, they reverse the process, swimming outward before taking flight. The hooded merganser requires a short runway, and gets into flight quickly by running.

     In the eastern Unites States, the hooded mergansers breed mainly in Canada and especially central Canada and the upper Mississippi Valley, although a few breed in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. They begin moving north, about mid-February even before most of the ice breaks up on lakes and rivers in the north. Main flights take place in March and early April. They again orient to the wooded swamps or forests near water and nest in tree cavities or rotting snags, much like the wood duck.

     The red-breasted merganser is a little larger than the hooded, with a longer neck, head and bill. It shows a lot of white on its wings in flight. The adult male has a double-crested, metallic-green head, a red bill, a white neck collar and a reddish-brown breast marked with black and white, white flanks and a dark back. The hen is dressed in browns and grays. She has a double-crested, reddish-brown, head blending to a whitish chin and throat. They have red bills and feet.

     These mergansers like the salt water more, and most are seen on the ocean. However, many will come up the big tidal rivers or spend time in the brackish marshes and bays. Most of them go farther south to winter off Florida. I recall one year seeing a flock of what must have been two or three thousand, wintering on the Gulf of Mexico off Destin, Florida. They fly low over the water, often in a line, but sometimes in undisciplined bunches. When on migration they fly at greater heights.

     Most red-breasted mergansers will head north in March and April. They generally nest farther north than the other mergansers, near fresh water lakes or rivers, in upturned tree roots, driftwood or overhanging shoreline vegetation. They are at home in moving water and frequently feed in fast-moving rivers.

     The American or common merganser is the largest of our mergansers and commonly winters in the north around the New England coasts, the upper Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. It too likes to feed in fast-flowing waters, especially in dam tailraces, and below rapids and waterfalls, probably because fish are also drawn to these places to feed on aquatic insects, and smaller fish swept down through these areas. Common mergansers resemble the cormorant when feeding and the loon in flight. 

     Also known as the gossander or sheldrake, common mergansers measure up to 27 inches and weigh three pounds. Their size makes taking off a little more difficult and they need a good run to get airborne. Sometimes they'll use a fast current to help them get up to speed.

     The male is basically black and white above with black wings and white speculums. Its underside is white with a light buffy or rusty stained area down the center of its breast and belly. Its blackish head shines a dark, glossy green when the light hits it right, which contrasts with its carmine red bill and feet. The female is gray above, white below, with white wing speculums and a reddish-brown head that has a well-defined white chin and throat.

     The common breeds along the northern tier of states and in Canada from coast to coast, nesting in hollow trees, rock crevices on the ground, under drooping vegetation, and sometimes in or on old buildings. 

     Look for hooded mergansers on the York, Potomac, Rappahannock, Mattaponi, Pamunkey and Piankatank rivers. You may also see them on Beaver Dam Swamp Lake (Gloucester), Gardys Millpond (Westmoreland-Northumberland), and Chandlers Millpond (Westmoreland). Check out Westmoreland State Park, George Washington Birthplace National Monument (Westmoreland) both on the Potomac, Belle Isle State Park (Lancaster) on the Rappahannock, and Zoar State Forest (King William) on the Mattaponi.

     Red-breasted mergansers orient more to saltier water so check lower areas of the York, Potomac, Rappahannock and Piankatank rivers, and Chesapeake Bay itself in Mathews, off Bethel Beach or New Point Comfort. Common mergansers prefer the fresher water so look for them in the upper portions of the Rappahannock River around Port Royal and the new Rappahannock River National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the Potomac River off Westmoreland. Of course you might see any of them on one of the many tidal rivers, creeks, bays, lakes and ponds throughout Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula, from November to April. 

© 2001 Spike Knuth All rights reserved