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Correction
“It’s not a Bufflehead,” an astute caller/birder said, re the latest Gary Iversen photo in this week’s paper. “It’s a Hooded Merganser. Which is actually rarer.”
Apologies to this Merganser for my Buffleheaded mistake. (Which I compounded by misspelling it as “Morganser” in this original post.)
Reader Eunice Blubaugh’s correction:
I believe the bird pictured on page one is a Hooded Merganser rather than a Bufflehead. Both birds have large white patches on the back of the head, black backs and white breasts. And both winter in this area. However, they also differ in several ways. Size: Bufflehead is much smaller—13.5 inches to the Merganser’s 18 inches. The white breast of the Bufflehead extends into a white body almost to the tail—basically all white at the “waterline” The most distinctive mark, the white patch on the head is larger on the Merganser and more of a teardrop shape as it curves slightly forward above the eye. It may also have a black rim in back, While the Bufflehead’s patch is more of triangle, all white with no rim of black. Another major difference is that the Merganser’s patch can change shape because it is on a crest which the bird can raise—making it very prominent, or lower—making it more of a wide streak of white. When lowered, the crest also changes the shape of the Merganser’s head so he has “windswept hairdo.” The pictured bird is not quite in full breeding plumage. If he were, the side of his body would be a beautiful pale orange. Finally, the bill of the Merganser is very thin compared to that of the Bufflehead. Although both birds are listed as common in this area, *it has been my experience that I will see Buffleheads in small to moderate numbers almost every day during the winter. but Hooded Merganser’s only a very few times in the entire season They are much shyer and are always closer to shore cover. Buffleheads don’t mind being out in the middle of the water.
This is probably more than you wanted to know, but I get quite excited about Hooded Mergansers because they are so gorgeous and infrequent.
*A Birder’s Guide to Coastal Washington by Bob Morse
Eunice Blubaugh
As a birder, I’m a complete Loon.
At least you take the corrections with good humor. I was just watching the mating pair in our pond here in the Seattle area this week and wondering what type of duck they were (We have one or two pairs every winter for the last 27 years), so thank you for the timely lesson and the link to Wikpedia, which as always, gives the best pictures and the best definitions. Once again, thank you to Mr. Iverson for the great picture!
You compounded the error———it is a Hooded M”E”rganser, not M”O”rganser. Have a hard time being corrected?;)