Hooded merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus
Identification Tips:
- Small, compact diving duck
- Long, pointed bill with serrated edges
- Erectile, fan-like crest extends from back of head
- Dark bill and wings
- Often cocks its tail like a Ruddy Duck
- Immature similar to adult female
Adult male:
- Yellow eye
- Black head and back
- Large white patch in the center of the crest
- White breast and belly
- Black and white stripes at forward portion of reddish flanks
- Dark tail
- Inner half of upperwings whitish, brodered by 2 dark bars
- Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
- Male in basic eclipse plumage similar to adult female
Adult female:
- Brown eye
- Cold gray-brown head, neck, flanks, back, and upperwings with paler
breast
- Faint reddish tinge to crest
- White belly
Similar species:
Adult male in alternate plumage is unmistakable. Female
vaguely similar to other mergansers but much smaller with cold
brown head, with reddish fan-like crest, and dark bill.