Hooded Merganser
Learn to identify the Hooded Merganser by ear. Master the "low, frog-like 'grr-grr-grr" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Hooded Merganser sounds like
The display begins with a deep, drawn-out ga-waaa, then adds hollow pops and a few wonderfully muddled quacks.
How to tell it apart
Where you'll hear it
Breeds across southern Canada and the northern United States; many individuals winter from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Resident year-round in parts of the Pacific Northwest and the southeastern U.S.
Wooded ponds, beaver swamps, slow-moving rivers, marshy backwaters and sheltered coves where clear water allows visual foraging.
Nests early in spring, often while ice still rims the water. Migrates southward as northern waters freeze, returning north soon after thaw.
How to recognize it by sight
The Hooded Merganser is North America’s smallest merganser, famed for the male’s expandable black-and-white crest that looks like a fan-shaped hood. Agile underwater hunters, they use their thin, serrated bills to seize small fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects while zipping through clear ponds and forested wetlands. Females and immatures wear more subdued gray-brown plumage with a cinnamon crest, but both sexes share a low-profile, saw-billed silhouette and rapid, direct flight.
Similar species
Common Merganser
Much larger, with long orange bill and no fan-shaped crest.
Red-breasted Merganser
Shaggier double-pointed crest, thin red bill, and gray sides with streaked chest.
Bufflehead
Smaller, round-headed duck; male shows white patch wrapping around head but lacks thin bill.