Description

With a length of 15 to 20 inches, the hooded merganser is the smallest North American merganser. In addition to its small size, it is distinguished from the other mergansers by its brownish-black back and wings, black head with white, fan-shaped crest bordered in black, and white underside.

Distribution and Habitat

Hooded mergansers breed throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States, across southern Canada, and east of the Mississippi River, with the largest concentrations found in the forested regions around the Great Lakes. They winter along the Pacific Coast of Cal