365 Urban species. #352: Red-breasted merganser
The calm of Pleasure Bay in South Boston was disturbed by strong winds, but this male merganser is relatively unperturbed. Photos by cottonmanifesto
Urban species #252: Red-breasted merganser Mergus serrator
Mergansers are ducks with narrow, serrated and hooked bills, especially adapted to catch small and slippery fish. Red-breasted mergansers prefer to do this on shallow coastal waters, in North America and Eurasia. Throughout their range, red-breasted mergansers are noted for breeding late in the season. They begin nesting in June or July, while most other ducks start early in spring. Their breeding season is possibly an adaptation to the movements of small fish in their wintering grounds. Red-breasted mergansers breed in the tundra of Alaska, Canada, and northern Europe, but spend their winters on large still waters--often places where humans have built cities. The Great Lakes, the Great Salt Lake, and the Black Sea, as well as little old Pleasure Bay, are among the urban waters favored by this duck.
These mergansers are difficult to identify--they may be juvenile or female common or red-breasted mergansers. Because they are on salt water (common mergansers prefer bodies of fresh water) and the male red-breasted was nearby, they are more likely red-breasted mergansers.