Hi Sheila, Yes, Red-breasted Mergs are migrants and breed much farther north of us here. Common Mergansers breed here commonly! It is a bit hard to tell the females apart, but female Red-breasteds are much more slender (Sibley says more "spindly) with thin bills, and more wispy crests. They also lack the Common female's whitish throat. Commons are much heavier bodied birds, with thicker bills.
Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu Website: http://www.marieread.com Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Marie-Read-Wildlife-Photography-104356136271727/ ________________________________________ From: bounce-121534501-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-121534501-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Sheila Ann Dean [shade...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 1:25 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Question on merganser Yesterday at Monkey Run I saw a merganser with babies on her back. She sure looked like a red-throated, but aren't they migrants? Perhaps she was too low in the water to see the white, but she also had quite a crest. Unfortunately I startled her, and she seemed to not be able to swim away fast enough with her baby burden, so she dumped them, took off at a brisk clip, tsk, tsk, tsking for her brood to follow. They would all catch up, climb back on, and then she dumped them again to swim farther. This went on several times until it seemed she felt they'd escaped danger. I also saw a scarlet tanager, and heard a white-throated sparrow on the upland part of the trail (south side of Fall Creek). Near the water saw an American redstart, a Blackburnian warbler, rose-breasted grosbeak, Canada geese. And distant hawk, blue jay, and goldfinches. I'm sure there was tons more there, but I'm a beginner, and had to get back to work. Sheila -- Sheila Ann Dean Natural Selection Editing and Research 1415 Slaterville Road (temporary) Ithaca, NY 14850 USA -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
