[Length 18 in. Wingspan 24 in.]

This female Hooded Merganser was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E II 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: December 22, 2008)

[Length 18 in. Wingspan 24 in.]

This male Hooded Merganser was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E II 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: December 22, 2008)

[Length 18 in. Wingspan 24 in.]

This male Hooded Merganser was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E II 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: December 22, 2008)

[Length 18 in. Wingspan 24 in.]

This male Hooded Merganser was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC14E II 1.4x Teleconverter (EFL=630mm) on a Nikon D300 camera. (Date: December 18, 2009)

[Length 18 in. Wingspan 24 in.]

This Hooded Merganser pair was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC14E II 1.4x Teleconverter (EFL=630mm) on a Nikon D300 camera. (Date: December 18, 2009)

[Length 23 in. Wingspan 30 in.]

Red-breasted Mergansers are duck-like birds with shaggy crests and long, thin bills. The male has a black and white back, gray sides, a reddish breast, a white neck ring, and a dark, greenish head. The female has a dark pearly gray body, and a reddish head which does not contrast sharply with its white breast (the similar female Common Merganser shows a sharp contrast). Red-breasted Mergansers breed across most of Alaska, most of Canada except the southwestern provinces, and the northern portions of the Great Lakes US states. They winter strictly along the southern coast of Alaska, the western and eastern coasts of Canada, the Great Lakes, and the western, eastern, and Gulf coasts of the US. This male Red-breasted Merganser was photographed at the famous 8th Street Jetty in Barnegat, New Jersey, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film. (Date: March 1981)

[Length 23 in. Wingspan 30 in.]

This female Red-breasted Merganser was photographed at Scarlet Colley's birds and dolphins boat trip, Port Isabel, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens on a Nikon D7100 camera. (Date: April 5, 2016)

[Length 23 in. Wingspan 30 in.]

This first year Red-breasted Merganser was photographed at Bear River NWR, Ogden, Utah, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens on a Nikon D7100 camera. (Date: June 21, 2016)