Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator (Linnaeus, 1758)

		male female
2018-05-17 Irkutsk city, Irkut river, Cheremushki district 2015-02-28 Baikal. Listyanka.	© Mihail Ivanov © Mihail Ivanov

Description

Head and adjoined neck's part of Male Red-breasted Merganser in breeding plumage are black with green and purple metallic gloss; crest on head is formed by extended feathers. White neck is with black strip on rear part. Mantle and inner shoulders are black; rump and flanks have black and white fine scale pattern. Outer shoulders are black; much of lesser, median and greater wing coverts and secondaries are white. Craw and breast are buff-rusty brown mottled; breast-flanks near wing have some white feathers with quite broad black edges. White speculum divided on three parts by black strips. Tail is grayish-brown. Female's crown and upper-neck are rusty-brown; flanks are rusty white mottled; throat is white dark-rusty mottled. Upperparts and lesser and median wing coverts are dark-brown with grey edges; craw is white rusty and brownish mottled. Flanks are brownish with grayish edges; underparts are white. Speculum is formed by secondaries and its great coverts and divided on two parts by black strip formed by bases of secondaries. Male in summer and juveniles are similar on female. Legs are red or orange; yellow in juveniles; bill is orange with dark comb and tip. Eyes are red or orange; or yellow and brown in juveniles. Sizes: male wing 235 - 260 mm, female 210-235 mm; tail 77-90 mm, tarsus 40-50 mm, male bill 53-63 mm, female bill 48-58 mm.

Distribution

The most part of Siberia, excluding its southwest; forest zone and partially tundra. Breeds usually in mountain areas from 450 m (Lake Baikal) and above.

Biology

Small numbers winter on ice-free waters, for example, in the upper Angara River and somewhere in the Western Siberia.

References

В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Сибири". Москва-Екатеринбург, Изд-во "Кабинетный ученый", 2014.