Species: Lophodytes cucullatus

Hooded Merganser
Species

    A small (length 46 cm) duck with a thin serrated bill and a puffy crest; adult male has a black head with a large white patch on each side, a dark back, brown flanks, and a white chest with two black bars on each side; adult female is brownish overall, with a yellowish lower mandible; first winter male resembles female; in flight, both sexes show black-and-white inner secondaries (Peterson 1980, NGS 1983).

    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Anseriformes

    Family

    Anatidae

    Genus

    Lophodytes

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Mergo Cresta Blanca - harle couronné
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Lophodytes

    A small (length 46 cm) duck with a thin serrated bill and a puffy crest; adult male has a black head with a large white patch on each side, a dark back, brown flanks, and a white chest with two black bars on each side; adult female is brownish overall, with a yellowish lower mandible; first winter male resembles female; in flight, both sexes show black-and-white inner secondaries (Peterson 1980, NGS 1983).

    Migration
    false - true - true - In the east, northward migration occurs mainly in February-May. Returns to breeding areas in west mostly in late March-April. In the east, southward migration occurs mostly in September-December. Most movement to wintering areas occurs in November in the west.
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    true
    Food Comments
    Eats mostly small fishes, crayfishes and other crustaceans, and aquatic insects obtained by diving underwater (Palmer 1976).
    Reproduction Comments
    Clutch size is 6-18 (some nests may include eggs of wood duck or goldeneye in some areas). Incubation lasts 29-37 days, by female. Young first fly at estimated age of 10 weeks. First breeds at about 2 years (Terres 1980, Palmer 1976). Nesting is dispersed; in Minnesota, installation of nest boxes produced a nesting density of about 0.4 nests per sq km (Zicus 1990).
    Length
    46
    Weight
    680
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-11-21
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-11-21
    Other Status

    LC - Least concern

    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S2&CA.BC=S5&CA.LB=S2&CA.MB=S5&CA.NB=S4&CA.NF=S1&CA.NT=__&CA.NS=S4&CA.ON=S5&CA.PE=S1&CA.QC=S3&CA.SK=S4&CA.YT=S3&US.AL=S3&US.AK=S3&US.AZ=__&US.AR=S2&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=__&US.CT=S3&US.DE=S1&US.DC=__&US.FL=__&US.GA=S5&US.ID=S2&US.IL=S2&US.IN=S2&US.IA=S2&US.KS=S1&US.KY=S1&US.LA=S2&US.ME=S5&US.MD=S1&US.MA=S4&US.MI=S3&US.MN=SNR&US.MS=S2&US.MO=SNR&US.MT=S4&US.NN=__&US.NE=__&US.NV=__&US.NH=S5&US.NJ=S3&US.NM=__&US.NY=S4&US.NC=S1&US.ND=S3&US.OH=S2&US.OK=__&US.OR=S4&US.PA=S3&US.RI=S1&US.SC=SNR&US.SD=S2&US.TN=__&US.TX=S3&US.UT=__&US.VT=S4&US.VA=__&US.WA=S4&US.WV=S1&US.WI=S5&US.WY=SH" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: southeastern Alaska, central British Columbia, and southwestern Alberta south to southwestern Oregon, central Idaho, and northwestern Montana; and from central Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia, south to southeastern Kansas, northern Louisiana, northern Georgia, and (rarely) Florida. WINTERS: along Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf slopes, mainly from southeastern Alaska to northern Baja California, and New England to Florida and west to northern Mexico, irregularly in the interior of southern Canada and the U.S., and in the northern Bahamas and Greater Antilles (AOU 1983); rare in Hawaii.
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104711