merganser
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈmɜrˌɡænzər/
:
mergansar
- Birdwatchers often gather at this spot to observe the merganser as it catches fish with its hooked bill.
- hooded mergansers
Examples
-
A dozen mergansers with bright-patched wings floated out of our way.
Fiction book (2001) -
Swimmer among them, who walked splay-footed like mergansers.
Fiction book (1997) -
On September 25, I found the remains of a merganser on the mud of the eastern shore.
Fiction book (2000) -
PHOTO (COLOR): Hooded Merganser original
Academic text (2009) -
Access had a couple of hooded mergansers on view.
Blog text (20) -
PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 1 shows the effect of cropping this Hooded Merganser image.
Academic text (2009) -
It remains popular since it can be a good chance to see loons, scoters, grebes, mergansers, eiders, and guillemots up close.
Blog text (17) -
If I'm still, the mergansers will land on the far shore where I leave corn for them, remaining there for hours, splashing at every newcomer, but making way for them, too, so by five, when the sun finally widens and dissolves, there may be as many as a dozen ducks in that one small corner, a soft, bobbing contentment of white, red, and black.
Fiction book (2000) -
While walking along the lake, we spotted a beautiful merganser diving for fish in the clear water.
-
A pair of mergansers gracefully swam across the pond, their crested heads bobbing above the surface.
Synonyms
A group of ducks that eat fish and have narrow saw-edged bills
A large diving duck with a bill that has saw-like edges for catching fish
A large diving duck that eats fish and has a long thin bill with tooth-like edges
A large diving duck with a crest and a thin hooked bill for catching fish
Compounds
- Specialized
A large duck that eats fish and lives by cold rivers in Europe and North America
- Specialized
A North American diving duck with a long thin bill that catches fish
Surface Forms
Etymology
Merganser comes from Latin parts merg- 'to dive' and anser 'goose'. So a merganser is literally a 'diving goose', which explains why this duck dives for fish.