Earthday 23 - 3 - Hooded Merganser Traditional Cache

Common Ducks of S.E. Michigan

Visit any lake, river, or wetland in Southeastern Michigan, and you are almost certain to see some type of bird in the water, whether it’s a duck searching for food in the shallows or a heron stalking prey along the shore.

This cache is one of eight published for the 2023 Earth Day Shoreline Cleanup event at Erie Metropark. Each cache will focus on one of the more common ducks of Southeastern Michigan. A link to all 8 of the caches may be found HERE.

Hooded Merganser

“Hooded” is something of an understatement for this extravagantly crested little duck. Adult males are a sight to behold, with sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks. Females get their own distinctive elegance from their cinnamon crest. Hooded Mergansers are fairly common on small ponds and rivers, where they dive for fish, crayfish, and other food, seizing it in their thin, serrated bills. They nest in tree cavities; the ducklings depart with a bold leap to the forest floor when only one day old.

How to Identify:

• Small duck with a long, slender bill.
• Breeding males have an unmistakable large black crest that has a large white patch on each side. Yellow eyes.
• Females have dark eyes and are brown overall with a slightly lighter colored crest, which almost looks like a mohawk. Nonbreeding males look similar to females, except they have yellow eyes.

Cool facts:

• Similar to other cavity-nesting ducks such as Wood Ducks, Common Mergansers, and Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers often lay eggs in nests of other ducks, both their own species and others. This is called “brood parasitism” and is similar to the practice of Brown-headed Cowbirds. Female Hooded Mergansers can lay up to about 13 eggs in a clutch, but nests have been found with up to 44 eggs in them.
• Hooded Mergansers find their prey underwater by sight. They can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a “nictitating membrane,” which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles.
• Hooded Merganser ducklings leave their nest cavity within 24 hours of hatching. First, their mother checks the area around the nest and calls to the nestlings from ground level. From inside the nest, the little ducklings scramble up to the entrance hole and then flutter to the ground, which may be 50 feet or more below them. In some cases, they have to walk half a mile or more with their mother to the nearest body of water.
• The oldest recorded Hooded Merganser was a male and at least 14 years, and 6 months old.

Find this duck:

Hooded Mergansers are fairly common on small ponds and streams across their breeding range. In fall through spring, head to unfrozen lakes or shallow, protected saltwater bays and look for them mixed in flocks with other small divers like Bufflehead and Ruddy Ducks.

The Cache: The cache is a regular-sized lock & lock hidden along The Cherry Island Marsh Trail.

The permit for this cache has been submitted and approved by the Southern District Interpretive Services Supervisor of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks