Subject: Raft of 19 common mergansers on Lk Sammamish
Date: Aug 14 20:00:51 1999
From: Kelly Mcallister - mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov




On Sat, 14 Aug 1999, Li, Kevin wrote:

> Last year near the mouth of the Nisqually there were many hundreds of
> mergansers swimming en masse; it was quite a sight. It may have been in
> September.

Yes, I remember it well. It was September 2, 1998. I didn't try to count
the mergansers but there were hundreds of them. I remember puzzling over
their mode of getting from place-to-place, all scuttling along at good
speed but using leg power, not wing power. Someone on Tweeters pointed
out the likelihood that they were molting and incapable of flight. Makes
sense to me though I don't know the timing of flight feather molt in
Common Mergansers.

Anyway, the time is near for good merganser viewing at Nisqually.

Kelly McAllister