Breeding adult male. Photo: Joan Tisdale/Audubon Photography Awards
Bucephala clangula
| Conservation status | Numbers apparently stable. Populations have increased in some areas where nest boxes are provided. |
|---|---|
| Family | Ducks and Geese |
| Habitat | Forested lakes, rivers; in winter, also salt bays, seacoasts. In breeding season requires large trees (for nesting cavities) close to clear, cold water, as around northern lakes, bogs, rivers. In winter mostly on shallow, protected bays and estuaries, also on rivers and lakes. |
Forages mostly underwater; rarely by dabbling or up-ending in shallow water.
usually 8-11, sometimes 5-17. Olive-green to blue-green. Incubation is by female, usually 29-30 days. Female covers eggs with down when leaving nest. Young: leave nest 1-2 days after hatching, are led to water by female. Young are tended by female but feed themselves. Age at first flight 56-66 days.
leave nest 1-2 days after hatching, are led to water by female. Young are tended by female but feed themselves. Age at first flight 56-66 days.
Varies with season and habitat. Eats crustaceans including crayfish, crabs, shrimps, amphipods, and others; also mollusks (including blue mussel), small fishes, marine worms, frogs, leeches. Aquatic insects are main food in summer (when lakes with no fish may be preferred). Also eats some plant material, such as pondweeds, especially in fall.
First breeds at age of 2 years, but 1-year-old females go prospecting for future nest sites in early summer. Pair formation occurs mostly in late winter. Several males may court one female. In courtship, displays of male include throwing head far back with bill pointed skyward while uttering shrill call; also ritualized head-pumping, and short flights with exaggerated takeoff and landing. Nest sites are in large tree cavities, 5-60' above ground, sometimes in abandoned buildings; will use nest boxes. Nest is depression in wood chips at bottom of cavity, lined with down. Where nest sites are scarce, females may lay eggs in each others' nests.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
The area is a critically important breeding and migratory stopover for huge numbers of waterfowl, including Common Goldeneye and Black Scoter.
A photographer in Minnesota recently captured an adorable shot of a Common Merganser followed by dozens of fuzzy babies.
Want to get an entertaining shot? Try capturing these courtship displays.
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