I was very excited when I saw these two ducks, because I had never seen them before but somehow they seemed to be familiar. It turned out that these were Common Mergansers. I squatted on the beach and took a bunch of photos. When I take a look at the photos again, I feel like I am reading a comic strip. I don’t have captions for them so imagine the stories for yourself! I guess they might be two female common mergansers. Or one of them might be an immature male Common Merganser. Common Mergansers are large sea ducks. Their bills have serrated edges to help them grip their prey. They eat fish and various aquatic prey. Females are the main caregivers.
我看到這兩隻鴨子，很興奮，因為這是一種以前未見過的鴨，但又似曾相似，原來這是普通秋沙鴨。我蹲在那裏照了一堆照片，再看時好像在看連環漫畫，你自己想像它們的故事吧！我猜牠們是雌鴨，也有可能其中一隻是發育未全的雄鴨。 普通秋沙鴨是大型海鴨。它們的嘴有鋸齒狀的邊緣，以幫助它們抓住獵物。它們吃魚和各種水生獵物。雌鴨是主要的照顧者。
Notes 筆記
- The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America.
- The genus name is a Latin word to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and merganser comes from the Latin and roughly translates to “plunging goose”—a good name for this very large and often submerged duck.
- Like the other mergansers, these piscivorous ducks have serrated edges to their bills to help them grip their prey, so they are often known as “sawbills”. In addition to fish, they take a wide range of other aquatic prey.
- Common Mergansers spend much of their time afloat, loafing, fishing, and often sleeping on open water. They may form flocks of up to 75 individuals. They often swim in small groups along the shoreline, dipping their heads underwater to search for prey and then diving with a slight leap.
- The female Common Mergansers choose the nest site. They usually nest in natural tree cavities or holes carved out by large woodpeckers. Sometimes mergansers take up residence in nest boxes, if provided the entrance hole is large enough. On occasion they use rock crevices, holes in the ground, hollow logs, old buildings, and chimneys.
- The male usually abandons the nest during incubation, and the female cares for the ducklings on her own. Common Mergansers are known to form crèches, with single females having being observed with over 70 ducklings at one time.
- Female Common Merganser escorts ducklings from the small streams and ponds near the nest site to larger lakes, rivers, and bays downstream. After leaving the nest, the young are in danger from hawks, owls, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Common Loons, and even fish.
- The species is a partial migrant. Eastern North American birds move south in small groups to the United States. On the milder Pacific coast, they are permanent residents.
- 普通秋沙鴨（北美）或秋沙鴨（歐亞）是歐洲、亞洲和北美森林地區的河流和湖泊中的大型海鴨。
- 屬名是一個拉丁詞，指的是一種未指明的水鳥，秋沙鴨來自拉丁語，大致翻譯為“跳水鵝”，這是這種體型巨大且經常潛水的鴨子的好名字。
- 像其他秋沙鴨一樣，這些食肉鴨子的嘴上有鋸齒狀的邊緣，以幫助它們抓住獵物，因此它們通常被稱為“鋸嘴鴨”。除魚類外，它們還捕食各種各樣的其他水生獵物。
- 普通秋沙鴨大部分時間都在漂浮，遊蕩，釣魚，並經常在開闊的水域睡覺。它們可能會組成多達75隻鴨的群體。它們經常沿著海岸線成群結隊地游動，將頭浸在水下尋找獵物，然後輕輕一躍就潛入水中。
- 雌性普通秋沙鴨選擇築巢地點。它們通常築巢在天然樹洞或大型啄木鳥啄出的洞中。如果入口足夠大，有時川秋沙會在巢箱中居住。偶爾會住在岩石縫隙、地洞、空心圓木、舊建築物和煙囪中。
- 雄鴨通常在孵化過程中棄巢，雌鴨獨自照顧雛鴨。眾所周知，普通秋沙鴨會像開托兒所似的，曾觀察到一隻雌川秋沙帶著超過70隻小鴨。
- 雌性秋沙鴨將小鴨從巢穴附近的小溪和池塘護送到下游較大的湖泊、河流和海灣。離開巢穴後，幼鴨會面臨鷹、貓頭鷹、禿頭鷹、金鷹、普通潛鳥甚至魚類的威脅。
- 它是部分移動性動物。北美東部的鴨成群結隊地向南遷徙到美國。在溫和的太平洋沿岸，則是留鳥。
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Common merganser
- All about birds: Common Merganser
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