Red-breasted Merganser

How to identify

Field marks

1. Pointed crest on the head
2. Bill long, slender and red, with tooth-like projections along the edges
3. Breeding male has a dark head with a green metallic gloss, and white neck
4. Breeding male has a reddish-brown breast, black back and white belly

Male, female and young

Female has a reddish-brown head and gray body; juvenile resembles female, with smaller white wing patches.

Voice

During courtship, female gives a harsh “prrak prrak” and male a cat-like “meow”; mostly quiet at other times.

Similar species

Common Merganser

Females, immatures and non-breeding males are difficult to separate; female Common Merganser has a stronger contrast between head and breast, and a pale chin patch; this species favors salt water, but their habitats often overlap.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: United States, Canada, Iceland

Red-breasted Merganser has been recorded at 1,602 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 79 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Point Pelee National ParkCanada14,493 records
2. Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Lincoln Park, ChicagoUnited States13,898 records
3. Tommy Thompson ParkCanada12,153 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesCanadaIcelandUnited KingdomNorwaySwedenDenmarkJapan

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) is a duck species that is native to much of the temperate to subarctic Northern Hemisphere. The red breast that gives the species its common name is only displayed by males in breeding plumage. Individuals fly rapidly, and feed by diving from the surface to pursue aquatic animals underwater, using serrated bills to capture slippery fish.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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