Merganser duck is a large individual that gains weight instinctively towards the cold. It meets winter with fat reserves, so often a two-kilogram wild bird becomes prey for hunters. In Russia there is a subspecies of an individual - an ordinary merganser, which lives in Altai, the Kola Peninsula, the Urals, and Lake Baikal.
Description
The duck merganser is wild. It is also called the bison or cormorant. She is well known in Russia, as well as in the CIS countries. Two subspecies live in our region - a large and common merganser. The large one does not have such a dense plumage, and in size it is smaller than usual. If you look at the photo of a duck merganser, you will notice that it looks disheveled. This is because the bird can dive to a depth of two to four meters. So she gets fish for herself.
Kinds
Merganser duck belongs to wild large birds. The most common species that is often found in our country is large merganser. So it is called not in vain, because the bird is significantly larger than the mallard in size. Large representatives of this species prefer to settle in quiet ponds that are located far from a person, more often - in the depths of the taiga. Common merganser is also found in nature, but it is smaller in size than the previous one. For example, Himalayan merganser also does not differ in large sizes, and in terms of plumage it does not exceed large and ordinary.
Long-nosed mergansers have more beaks than other birds of this species. Dimensions - average, body length - fifty centimeters. Merganser scaly looks outwardly like a long-nosed. It lives in China and the Far East (Russia). Small merganser is much less common. In nature, only one and a half thousand pairs. Loot bird is another species of merganser. It is small in size and weight, lives in European forests. For example, in Belarus and Latvia, large merganser is included in the list of rare birds. In these countries, hunting is prohibited. Scaly merganser is under protection in Russia, other species can be hunted in spring.
Habitat features
Common merganser is found on the banks of rivers and lakes in the forest. Duck prefers to live in small freshwater bodies without abundant vegetation. Long-nosed mergansers like rivers with a fast flow, so they nest on the shore near trees or in tall grass. There should be plenty of room to take off. Greater merganser lives in the lowlands of mountainous areas, and winters on lakes in warm countries. As soon as frost sets in, the bird migrates. If the winter is warm, ducks do not fly far. Birds living in the north-west of Russia, wintering fly away on the shores of water bodies, which are located in southern Europe.
Merganser is found almost all over the world, lives in any climate. For example, in Japan, hunting for this duck is prohibited due to the small number of species in the country. Greater Merganser prefers to nest in the middle lane, Eastern and Western hemispheres. If the bird lives in California, the Himalayas and Central Asia, it prefers not to fly away for the winter. Scaly individuals live in the East, nest in the northeast of Russia, Japan, China, Asia. Long-nosed merganser is found everywhere - from the forest-steppe to the tundra. On the coasts of Great Britain birds live settled. Brazilian Merganser lives in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil. This is the smallest species (350 birds in total).
Lifestyle
Merganser duck can often be found in water, as it constantly dives in search of food. Birds live on freshwater lakes, slow-flowing rivers or in calm sea bays. Merganser is a migratory bird that nests in the middle lane in forests with rivers. They live in Western Europe, in the Far East, in the Himalayas. Individuals winter on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic, in southern China, in warm reservoirs, where there are a lot of fish.
When spring comes (end of March), the ducks return home. Merganser is a family bird, capable of repelling a predator who decides to encroach on the clutch or small chicks. Mergansers create pairs, live in small groups, sometimes unite in large flocks of several thousand birds.
What does it look like?
Merganser duck is a beautiful bird, which is the owner of a bright long beak of cylindrical shape. On the inner edge of the beak has sharp teeth, towards the end it bends a little. All this is necessary so that it is more convenient for the duck to fish. Merganser has an oval elongated body, which reaches a length of 59 centimeters with an elongated neck. The wingspan of this bird reaches 88 cm, and individuals weigh from 1.2 to 2.5 kg. In females, the color of feathers is paler than in males.
The bird itself is gray, has brown blotches. The drakes, on the contrary, have bright plumage. On the head there are feathers of a green hue, there is a black crest, white stripes on the wings, and on the back feathers are brown and black. Some species have white goiter and throat. Males and females have a white spot on the wing, which is visible when the bird spreads its wings. The neck and head of the drake are covered with black plumage with a green metallic sheen.
The tail is dark gray, the back is black in front, and the rest of the body is white with a pink hue of feathers. In females, the neck and head are brown and red, the neck is white, the back is light gray. Merganser beak bright red. The color of the feather of a large and long-nosed merganser depends on the season. In spring, the color is brighter, and by winter it turns pale. In general, the appearance of males is much more attractive, perhaps this is due to the fact that the drake should seek the attention of females during mating games, compete with rivals.
Breeding
The duck begins to breed at the age of two years. During the mating season, the male merganser swims in front of the female, standing upright on the surface of the water. The male sharply raises and lowers his head during mating games (up and back). Female places for nesting. Usually it is hollow in willow, alder or aspen. For one clutch, she brings up to twelve eggs. In the nest, ducklings remain after birth for two days, and then begin to swim with their mother. Little mergansers still do not know how to dive, so they find food on the surface of the water (bugs, insects). Adults feed on large fish. In winter, it is herring, sea fish, as well as mollusks, crayfish, sometimes beetles and worms.
Edible or not?
Edible duck meat . Due to the fact that the bird eats fish, it has a slight fishy smell, dark in color. Some hunters believe that it makes no sense to hunt for this wild bird. If you remove the skin with a thin layer of fat, not a very large meat carcass will appear under it. Merganser meat is harsh, but in order to achieve the best taste, it is better to cook it with the meat of another bird. But this is just the opinion of some hunters.
How to cook duck merganser?
Tasty or not duck merganser? The meat of this bird does not exceed the taste of homemade. Despite this, the game is popular among hunters. After all, baked duck is one of the most favorite holiday dishes. The meat of this bird is usually cooked in the oven. It is especially tasty if baked or stewed well. On New Year's and Christmas holidays, the duck is cooked in the oven. If you bake the whole bird, you can stuff it. For this, apples, oranges, cabbage, dried fruits are suitable. It must be juicy foods.
Only fattened bird is suitable for baking. The ideal weight is 2.5 kilograms. Merganser reaches such a weight in the winter. Before cooking, the carcass should be washed well under running water, gutted, dried, marinated, salted, grated with various spices, garlic inside and out, filled with cooked filling. The edges of the carcass are sewn together with threads, and the top is covered with vegetable oil. A duck is cooked for several hours, depending on the size of the bird. Calculated as follows: 1 kg = 45 minutes, plus 25 minutes, so that the crust turns brown. Before you put the duck in the oven, you need to warm the last.
If the carcass is baked, be sure to cut off the ass - this will save the dish from an unpleasant odor. To give the meat tenderness and juiciness, it is recommended to add oranges, prunes, lingonberries to the filling. During baking, the duck must sometimes be taken out and watered with fat, which is formed in the process.