Subject: Merganser fly-through (and through) in Madrona
Date: May 24 22:07:34 2002
From: fbwood udub - fbwood at u.washington.edu


Early last Wednesday morning (5/22), about 6 AM my wife
noticed about 6 "ducks" flying and circling through the Big-leaf Maples
in our back yard near 36th and E. Terrace in the Madrona-Leschi
neighborhood. They were still doing it when I arose at 6:30 and
continued at least until we had departed about 8:30. They were female
Common Mergansers, flying about 30-50 feet off the ground among 150-200
foot trees. On a couple of occasions, one would put down her flaps and
look momentarily as though she were going to land on a branch, and then
fly on in another circle. Our home is about 5 blocks from the shore of
Lake WA and 2-300 feet above the lake. In nearly 40 years of living
here, I have never happened to observe this.
Ehrlich's "Birder's Handbook" indicates that the Common Merg
nests in dead tree cavities about 15-50 feet off the ground, and the
female selects the site. The female search for a site would be
consistent with what we saw. A dead tree large enough to contain a
large enough cavity for those birds would be hard to find in Seattle.
Gene Hunn's 20 year old King County Guide (currently being
updated) mentions these birds nesting along the Snoqualmie River in the
Carnation-Fall City area.
Questions include whether anyone has information on Common
Mergansers nesting in the Lake Washington area, and do they use Wood
Duck nesting boxes? Kaufman ("Lives of North American Birds") says that
the species uses artificial nesting sites along urban waterfronts in
Europe, but this has not yet happened in North America. Another
concern: if they should find a cavity five blocks from the lake, how
successful might the mom be in getting the 48 hour old kids down to the
lake after she kicks them out of the cavity?
Once you get hooked on birding, questions keep popping up!
Fran Wood (male)
Seattle (Madrona) WA

<fbwood at u.washington.edu>