Lophodytes cucullatus
The Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, is a distinctive and strikingly beautiful diving duck, the smallest of North America's mergansers. Males are instantly recognizable by their prominent, fan-shaped white crest, sharply outlined in black, which can be raised and lowered, revealing a contrasting black face and iridescent green-black back, bright white flanks with two black bars, and a chest. Females, while less flamboyant, possess an elegant shaggy, cinnamon-rufous crest, a grayish-br...
Found primarily in freshwater forested wetlands, including swamps, small rivers, beaver ponds, and wooded lakes, typically at low to moderate elevations.
Primarily carnivorous, feeding on small fish, crustaceans (crayfish, shrimp), and aquatic insects, caught through visual pursuit-diving.
Hooded Mergansers are diurnal, spending their days foraging and often roosting on the water or tucked into shoreline vegetation. They are expert pursuit-divers, propelling themselves underwater with their powerful feet to chase down prey, using their specialized serrated bill to grasp slippery fi...
The Hooded Merganser's breeding range spans a broad swathe of eastern North America, extending from the Great Lakes region east through New England and south to the Gulf Coast states, as well as disjunct populations in the Pacific Northwest. Key breeding areas include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michig...
Least Concern
- The Hooded Merganser is the smallest of the three merganser species found in North America. - Its distinctive crest can be raised and lowered on demand, often used in courtship displays or as an alarm signal. - Ducklings, only a day old, will jump unaided from tree cavities that can be 20 feet ...