(Credit: U. S. Geological Survey)

Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus

Identification Tips:

  1. Length: 13 inches Wingspan: 26 inches
  2. Small, compact diving duck
  3. Long, pointed bill with serrated edges
  4. Erectile, fan-like crest extends from back of head
  5. Dark bill and wings
  6. Often cocks its tail like a Ruddy Duck
  7. Immature similar to adult female

Adult male:

  1. Yellow eye
  2. Black head and back
  3. Large white patch in the center of the crest
  4. White breast and belly
  5. Black and white stripes at forward portion of reddish flanks
  6. Dark tail
  7. Inner half of upperwings whitish, brodered by 2 dark bars
  8. Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
  9. Male in basic eclipse plumage similar to adult female

Adult female:

  1. Brown eye
  2. Cold gray-brown head, neck, flanks, back, and upperwings with paler breast
  3. Faint reddish tinge to crest
  4. White belly

Similar species:

Adult male in alternate plumage is unmistakable. Female vaguely similar to other mergansers but much smaller with cold brown head, with reddish fan-like crest, and dark bill.