The Goosander

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 There are a variety of fish eating birds to be found along the rivers and streams near us. We see cormorant, heron, kingfisher etc. but one of the most interesting is the Goosander (called the common merganser in some parts of the World) .Goosander are part of the sawtooth family of birds, so called because their bills have serrated edges the better to grasp their prey.


The male goosander is very distinctive and could not be mistaken for anything else. The female can be confused with a female red breasted merganser  The goosander has a sharper contrast between the head and the body.

This close up should show the "sawtooth" bill.

These birds inhabit fas flower rivers that are clear enough for them to be able to hunt fish. We often see them on the River Eden. The birds fish in family groups, often floating downstream for a mile or so and then flying back upstream. Sometimes they hunt cooperatively driving fish into shallow water to make them easier to catch.
I hadn't realised until I researched this that goosanders had not nested in Britain before 1871 having colonised from mainland Europe. Goosanders nest in hollows in trees and sometimes the nest is many metres above the ground meaning that the young need to leap into the unknown as they leave the nest.
It was recently noted that the male birds went missing from British rivers for a couple of months in the summer. It transpires that the males perform a summer migration to the tip of Norway where they undergo a moult of their flight feathers in an area that is relatively free from predators. The more cryptically coloured females tough it out with the young on British waters until the males return at the end of the summer. When the ducklings are very small it is common to see them piggy backing on the parts and hitching a ride down the river.

Diary Notes
Yesterday we saw flocks of common gulls (200+), starling (100+), Rooks (100+) and starling (100+) feeding in the flooded fields in front of the house.
I was delighted to receive another visit from our female sparrowhawk who hung around for a couple of hours. I was very pleased with this photograph.

My overnight cameras caught a good close up of a tawny owl and another glimpse of a polecat













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