Common Merganser

These pictures were taken on April 10th, 2008 in Lake Huron near our home just south of Port Elgin, Ontario. Mergansers are diving ducks whose main food source is fish. They usually nest in tree cavities and the young leave their nest when they are about one day old. When chicks are first born, the parents don't feed them, they forage for water insects themselves and when they're about 10 days old will switch mainly to fish as their diet. The top picture is the male and the lower one is the female.