Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Mergansers

I've had several Hooded Mergansers hanging around my pond this spring, I see them catching some small fish in the 2-3" range. I am short on LMB in the pond and wonder if they are a bad thing? I know their a natural preditor but do I need to run them off ASAP sinse they will be continuing their migration soon? I live in central Iowa.

Thanks for any reply

FH

Mergs should not have much of an impact on your fish population. They eat small fish, amphibians and crustaceans. They also eat much less/smaller food than herons. I would welcome them at my ponds, but for others reasons.

I had a Merganzer prob this year. They arrived, all 25+ or so, and were stressing my larger BG out till they died. I lost about 150 fish before I formed a partnership with the Remington Firearms Co, namely their 12ga division...
I offered the Merganzers a deal they couldn't refuse and I stopped losing BG completely! And yes... They ate some pretty large BG too. Its amazing how big their throats can open up! Now, for the first time ever here, I have a Cormoran prob... They are Federally protected, so I have to switch to plan B. Only prob, I have no plan B...

We've had quite a population of cormorants this spring. They have been sticking primarily to the neighbors lake. He uses fireworks to chase them off. They can put down a 1# fish quite easily...

Again, the name "merganser" refers to a number of different species. To paint a broad statement about "mergansers" is extremely unfair. Hooded mergansers are too small to hurt much of anything. Common and red-breasted mergansers are bigger. I can't say what they have or have not done but in most cases, they are migratory and thus leave quickly.

The only problems I know of with the smaller hooded mergansers is they will eat small fish and they will lay eggs in or take over wood duck houses. So I chase them away for those two reasons. Hooded mergs will sometimes just lay eggs in a wood duck nest and let the female wood duck take care of them. I've also seen them chase the wood ducks away. I've checked some of my wood duck houses and if I don't chase them away the nests will sometimes contain over half merganser eggs.

I haven't ever seen a 'hooded' variety in S Origun, but I think the ones we have here are called "common". They are as large as a full grown Mallard and eat pretty good size BG. They are migratory, because I don't see even the occassional one now.

bz, I personally would trade a dozen pair of wood ducks for a pair of hooded mergansers. Maybe locally hooded mergansers are common for you but nation wide, they sure aren't. We're raising thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of wood ducks. That's sure not true for hooded mergansers.

Double-Camp, with the exception of cormorants, the huge advantage of migratory birds is that they move on quickly. What that means is that we only have to scare them away a couple of times and they move on.

Norm, interesting, we have lots of hooded mergs. They have always been considered a nuisance by waterfowlers around here. Strange that we'd have more here than you do. We have the large varieties as well of course but you seldom see them on very small ponds.

bz, if something is easily edible, it's a game bird/fish/animal. If not, it's trash. Think where wood ducks would be if they weren't good to eat. Never mind that they are one of the two most beautiful ducks in North America. The other is hooded mergansers.

I grew up hunting, fishing and trapping and still like to do all three things. As I've grown older, developing a beautiful, healthy and productive farm has become more important to me. We raise wood ducks, not to hunt but rather to watch and have around. If we could have hooded mergansers, I would love it.

Where are you in Minnesota that you have them?

Norm: True. But remember me posting that I came home (off the road) to 150 dead and dying BG? Drastic times call for drastic meassures. I eliminated the Mergs, and the fish instantly stopped showing up on the banks, dead from stress. And like you said, the rest moved on eventually. Now that the water is warming up and the fish are more active, even the Cormarant comes up empty most the time. Do Cormarants migrate? Hope so...

Yesterday afternoon I saw a pair of ducks diving in my pond, for the first time! They were much less nervous than the mallards I'm used to seeing; they stayed and kept feeding for 45 minutes while I fished. Neat!

My duck IQ is in the low-grade moron range and I don't know what they were. They were smaller than mallards and bigger than buffleheads; they looked a lot like these lesser scaups:


Any idea what two diving ducks of that size and approximate coloration, in Ohio in April, could have been?

Double-Camp,
I believe cormorants do migrate, but not quite like other bird species. If they find a location (ie...your pond) with a good supply of food, they can stay until they literally knock it out. At that time, they'll move on. I know they'll migrate up and down coastlines, though.

I'm proud to say that my brother-in-law and I are in hot competition for the $200 bounty that has been set on bringing in either of the 2 cormorants we've frequently seen on our place. May the more accurate and stealthy man win!

Theo, are you sure they were divers? Could possibly have been widgeons. You shouldn't see alot of scaup your way.

Um, Davatsa.... Last I heard, which was quite a few years ago now, the Cormorant was "protected" under the yadda yaddi migratory bird act. The way I look at it, shoot a Merganzer out of season and ya get a fine. Shoot a Cormorant (and get caught) and your life has just taken a 90 degree turn for the worse. Funny. The same government that feels it has to "legalize" abortion goes to lengths to protect a fish killing, over-populated bird that is ugly to boot. Go figure...

As far as they're being scaup - that's just the closest picture I found this A.M. to what they looked like. The female was colored pretty close to a mallard hen (to my uneduckated eyes); maybe a little darker head and neck). The male was very dark (black?) in the front, very light (white?) in the middle, and the same very dark hue at the tail - kind of like a Belgian Banded cow.

Now, as to terminology for their behavior, you tell me. They were both disappearing under water, for at least 30-45 seconds at a time (possibly longer, I didn't time them). Is that diving or daubling or ???

Wow, this thread took off, it didn't seem like much of a topic so didn't look at it for a while.

A few of the Merganzers come and go still but the mass of probably 50 at a time is now gone. I did watch them eat a few small BG in the 2-3" range but did not see the stress as mentioned earlier, thankfully! I would have ended that ASAP, as it was they were skittish enough that one foot out the door and they were gone most of the time, I also agree they're a beautiful bird and did enjoy their presense. I don't think they really could have done to much damage in my pond, I'm short on LMB and long on the BG in that 2-3" and smaller range. I don't know if the bass were successful in they're attempt at spawning last year and I'm pretty sure that was the first attempt. I would assume some LMB would have hatched knowing Mother Natures will but will find out this summer, that was my only concern as the Mergies hunted.

I would rather have the Scaup pictured as they are good for ponds IMO, knowing they are consuming the snails in my pond. The duck you talk about, Theo, may have been a Ring Neck. I have a difficult time telling them apart unless you can see the head real close. Ring Neck have a white ring around the bill and Scaup do not. The head on the Ring Neck will appear a real dark purple in the right angle of sun light.

Do Hooded Merganzer eggs look different than a Wood Duck's? I would assume so but not sure, I need to look in our Woody box tonight to see if there's two kinds.

Thanks for the replys!

FH

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/duckdist/index.htm

Theo: try this link. It covers most NA waterfowl.

It looks like they could have been ring-necks. If I'd gotten a look at the extended wings I might have a better idea, but they never took off. Definitely divers, though, whether ring-necks or lesser scaups.

If I'd heard a "Woo-hoo, woo-hoo, woo-hoo" call, I'd know for sure they were ring-necks.

Not sure how they got that name, always seemed odd since I've never noticed a ring on their neck.

FH