Species:

Goosander (Mergus merganser)

Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)

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Length (cm):
58-66
58-70
Wingspan (cm):
82-97
132-145
Weight (gram):
900-2100
1300-2200
Size group:
Bigger than a crow
Bigger than a crow
Main Texts:
Appearance:

Largest sawbill. Male: white to pinkish white plumage with black back and dark green head. Female with grey body and brown head. Sharp division between brown head and whitish breast, together with contrasting white chin, distinguishes it from female Red-breasted Merganser. Both sexes with hook at tip of bill, dense crest and swollen base of bill. Wing-bars all white. Flight silhouette more diver-like than duck-like.

Sound:

Male: Mostly heard when courting. A twanging, disyllabic "whip-ooooo", first syllable ascending and second whistle-like and rapidly falling. Female: A coarse "ahrrr ahrrrr", or a raspy drawn "ah-ahrrrrrr ah-ahrrrrr", slightly rising, then falling in pitch. Also various cackling sounds.

Display-call male:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Paul Driver,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

A medium sized, black and white goose. Black breast, white cheeks and forehead. Differs from the much bigger Canada Goose by the black breast. At distance the white head can be difficult to see, and the strong contrast between the black breast and the light belly is the best character to tell it apart from Brent Goose.

Sound:

Voice: Quite vocal. Contact call a short yapping, barking sound like a small dog. Also other lower, grunting sounds when grazing.

Contact call:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Jarek Matusiak,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Similar species (image):
Similar species (sound):
Silhouette Group:
Duck-like
Silhouette
Duck-like
Silhouette
Several different images of the species
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Several different sounds of the species
Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file