Common Merganser

These pictures were taken in Lake Huron, about 1/2 mile north of our place on 26th April 2006. The top picture is a female while the lower picture is an immature, about 1 year old. Mergansers are fish eaters. They have toothy projections in their bill that help them hold onto fish they have caught. They nest mainly in tree cavities but will nest in man made duck houses, hollow logs and sometimes even in holes in the ground. The young only stay in the nest for about one day and then they are in the water. The female doesn't feed them, but instead they eat small aquatic insects for about the first 1 1/2 weeks. Then they gradually switch over to fish like their parents.