43 Common Merganser

• A group of Common Merganser are called a; Brace / Flush / Paddling / Raft / Team.
• This is an example of a female (Raft) in the summer in the Boreal Forest.  These birds nest in trees in old growth forest.
• The male leaves the female as soon as the eggs are hatched.  What!!!  The female takes up the young and caries them down to the water where they are safe from predators.  How cool is that?
• These birds are very adapt fishers.  They have a special serrated bill to grasp onto fish.  Gulls have been known to follow these fishermen and rob from them.  They have also been known as a Sawbill.
• In Europe they are also known as a Goosander.
• They are the largest of the 3 Mergansers.