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Red-breasted Merganser

Birds

Photo: (c) Thomas Galewski, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY (May be cropped or resized)

Mergus serrator

Basic stats

Diet

Fish and aquatic invertebrates

Habitat

Coasts, estuaries and northern lakes

Size

51–62cm

The Red-breasted Merganser is a slim fish-eating duck with a long, narrow red bill and a conspicuously shaggy crest. Breeding males show a dark green head, white neck collar, rusty spotted breast and grey flanks. Females are grey-bodied with warm reddish-brown heads, closely resembling female Common Mergansers but appearing slimmer and showing less sharply divided head and neck colours (Wikipedia, general species account).

This merganser breeds around northern lakes, rivers and sheltered coasts, then winters mainly on estuaries and marine bays. It dives after small fish and aquatic invertebrates and may form coordinated feeding lines that drive prey together. The female nests on the ground under vegetation or among rocks rather than normally using tree cavities (Wikipedia, general species account). The Korean catalogue records the species in South Korea.

Quick answers

What does the Red-breasted Merganser eat?
Fish and aquatic invertebrates
What habitat does the Red-breasted Merganser live in?
Coasts, estuaries and northern lakes
How big is the Red-breasted Merganser?
51–62cm
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