"Critters"--The Mergansers

December 31, 2025

Common mergansers are the largest of North American diving ducks. But it’s their airspeed that can really make your head spin

I honestly don’t know the story about how Common Mergansers got slapped with the adjective “common” in their names. They’ve never seemed common—or at all ordinary—to me.

As a somewhat late immigrant to the Northwest I was stunned …