Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator

Mergansa de Pico Largo, Mergansa Pechirroja,
Serreta Mediana

Audio
(M. Oberle)

 
Female - Photo: G. Lasley

 

A narrow-billed, fish-eating duck with a green, crested head and a rusty brown breast. The female has a light red head. Length: 52-58 cm.; weight: 780-1,350 g. Audio (M. Oberle). Breeds in northern North America and Eurasia; winters at sea off the southeastern USA. Accidental off the coast of Puerto Rico (e.g. at Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve, 20 December 1998).

TAXONOMY: ANSERIFORMES; ANATIDAE; Anatinae

 
   
 

Male - Photo: G. Lasley

 

 

 
Female - Photo: G. Lasley

 

 
Females - Photo: G. Beaton
 

References

Bent, A.C. 1923. Life histories of North American wild fowl, part 2. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 126. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1962).

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1992. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/Fireside, NY.

Madge, S. and H. Burn. 1988. Wildfowl: an identification guide to the ducks, geese, and swans of the world. C. Helm, London.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Titman, R. D. 1999. Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). in The birds of North America, No. 443 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

http://www.seaduckjv.org/

Red-breasted Merganser, Spanish text

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