This Week's Bird

As promised on the Bird Calls Radio show on Sunday, here is more on This Week’s Bird, the hooded merganser. Don’t forget, there will be brand new Bird Calls programs on the next two Sundays (Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). Christmas Day will feature an interview with Dennis Varza, a Connecticut birder who is compiling an extensive historical list of Connecticut birds, and the New Year’s Day edition will feature a special interview with Jeffrey A. Gordon, president of the American Birding Association. That’s 1 to 2 p.m. on WGCH AM1490 or “listen live” above. Thanks for tuning in.

Now back to those hoodies:

The Bird Calls Radio Bird of the Day for Friday, Aug. 12 is the hooded merganser. A smallish duck that nests in mid- and northern New England, and visits southern New England during migration periods, and throughout winter as long as water remains unfrozen. They are seemingly everywhere these days on ponds, lakes, and rivers _ and thank goodness for that.

One of three merganser species in New England, the hooded merganser is the smallest. Common mergansers and red-breasted mergansers are the other mergansers. Common mergansers favor freshwater and red-breasted mergansers favor saltwater, although red-breasted mergansers may also be found on freshwater. Hooded mergansers may be found on either fresh- or saltwater, although not usually on big bodies of saltwater.

All mergansers have serrated bills that help them hold onto fish they catch after diving under the surface. Above is a male hooded merganser. Females are brown. Males either fan or flatten their ornamental head.

When I did a survey several years ago on New England’s “favorite bird,” I kicked it off with a column on my favorite bird: the hooded merganser.