Bird #48 — Common Merganser

mergus (diver) merganser (from mergere, to plunge, and anser, goose)

Saturday, September 1, 1979 — 11:00 am

Ottawa National Forest, Michigan — Black River Harbor

My fiancee and I were crossing the suspension bridge across the Black River on our way to the shore of Lake Superior.  A female Common Merganser was swimming with five young in the Black River, close to the bank, upstream from the bridge.

On April 6, 1980, I saw my first male in breeding plumage.  A flock of both sexes flew across Baker’s Lake in Barrington, Illinois, and landed near a mixed raft of other ducks.

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