- Not much is known about the nesting habits of Common Mergansers so this video was very exciting to get.
- Probably the most recent information on this bird can be found at Common Merganser from Pearce, John, Mark Mallory and Karen Metz. 2015. Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/442
- According to them: Despite its broad distribution and importance as a bio-indicator of aquatic food-chain degradation, however, we know little about the nesting and reproductive biology of this duck, or its population size and dynamics.
In s. Alaska, hatching likely from early June to mid-June based on duckling observations (J. Pearce, unpubl. data).
Young remain in the nest 24–48 h after hatching. Plumage dries within 12 h. At nest departure near water, female calls vigorously from water below cavity (Bent 1923). Young jump from the nest in rapid succession and may call vigorously (Gordon 1930). If nest is away from water, female leads the brood across land or water to the brood territory (lake or river), which may be up to 1.5 km away (Palmer 1976; Fig. 4).
The departure of the young from this site would involve quite a tumble down to Mendenhall Lake.
