Red Breasted Merganser

This Red breasted Merganser was photographed at the Edmonds Marina on a sunny afternoon during high tide. The picture here shows it in its non breeding plumage showing off its spiky crest. They are classified as a diving duck and are quite large. Red-breasted Mergansers dive and swim underwater to hunt small fish, but also aquatic insects, crustaceans, and frogs. Hunting these small animals is made easier with the use of its long thin serrated red bill.

They can be found in large lakes, rivers and the ocean, however they prefer salt water, which differentiate them from the other species of mergansers. Another characteristic that it has that differs from the common and hooded mergansers is that red-breasted mergansers nest on the ground in marshes, on rocky islets, on vegetated islands in large lakes, in bank recesses and under piles of driftwood. While the other two species nest in tree cavities.

For more pictures of seabirds seen at the Edmonds Marina on this day please see my Edmonds Marina Seabirds Gallery