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  Profile

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  In flight

Waterfowl

Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator

• uncommon
• 40 km/h
• Least Concern

Fastest duck ever clocked in level flight, hitting 80+ mph. Your message has a top speed.

Population

~370,000 individuals (global breeding population estimate, Partners in Flight, corroborated directly via Cornell/AllAboutBirds life-history page); trend reported stable 1966–2015 (North American Breeding Bird Survey)

Habitat

Breeds on freshwater, brackish, and saltwater wetlands in the boreal forest, typically close to the coast (rivers, lakes, forested riverbanks, marsh edges, coastal islands); winters mainly in coastal/saltwater bays and estuaries, and on large inland lakes — the Mergus species most often found on saltwater relative to its Common Merganser cousin

Fun fact

Red-breasted Mergansers are among the fastest-flying ducks on record, with a maximum observed flight speed of about 130 km/h (81 mph) — cited on Wikipedia's list of birds by flight speed, attributed to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Red-breasted Merganser guide.

Range

Breeds across the northern boreal belt of North America, Greenland, Iceland, and the Palearctic (northern Europe through Siberia); winters along temperate coastlines of the northern Atlantic and Pacific, including the US, Mexico, western Europe, and parts of Asia. Some northern-Atlantic populations (Iceland, Ireland, Britain, Norway, Baltic) are largely resident year-round

Diet

Primarily small fish (roughly 15–20 fish/day, requiring ~250–300 dives or 4–5 hours of foraging daily, per Cornell); also aquatic insects, crustaceans, worms, and amphibians. Its bill has serrated, tooth-like edges ("sawbill") adapted to grip slippery prey

Size

0.58 m

Wingspan

0.7 m

Lifespan

9.5 years