Hooded Mergansers

Rivals to Wood Ducks in Beauty

Pair of Hooded Mergansers

A beautiful species of duck has arrived this week, with the males gracing the ponds with their striking plumages. Not as well known as Wood Ducks, male Hooded Mergansers are as equally extravagant with their black, white and cinnamon pattern. They do not have all the stew of colors that the male Wood Ducks have but the Hooded’s smart pattern of colors and the ability to raise the crest on their head make for quite a display.

Male Hooded with crest raised in courtship mode - also note the striking white stripes on the back

Males courting the female

Note how the white of the crest on the male at right extends back on both sides to merge together

The female Hooded Merganser’s plumage is similar to the female Wood Duck. Both species nest in wood cavities and female mergansers will use wood duck houses. Both species can be found on small ponds but the merganser’s diet of fish and crustaceans is more specialized than the wood duck’s need for aquatic plants and insects so mergansers are more particular when choosing aquatic habitats.

According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey: “Hooded Mergansers are fairly common and their populations have increased dramatically by approximately 5% per year between 1966 and 2019”. All cavity-nesting birds rely on dead trees for nesting which points out the importance of leaving dead or dying trees standing in habitat management. Hooded Mergansers are impacted by loss of trees for nesting but appears to be mitigated by their willingness to use wood duck boxes for nesting.