For some birds, every day is a bad hair day

For me, few birds capture the spirit of the season quite like the red-breasted merganser. When I think of them, I think of the holidays — that fun time between Thanksgiving and winter's full arrival. I picture myself bundled in a hat and scarf, standing at the edge of a gray, agitated lake with a pair of frozen binoculars. Sometimes the shore is blanketed in snow and the water edged with ice; other times it's just cold — the kind of cold that feels almost festive, as if there should be holiday music playing and a cup of hot chocolate in hand. It's a great way to celebrate the season, though, as I slowly become an icicle, I've often wondered, "Whose idea was this?" (Hint: probably Gina's.) More often, it isn't quite so romantic. It's "birding by car" — a slow drive past the lake after dinner to see if "anything's going on." And if we're lucky, what may be going on is extraordinary: red-breasted mergansers gathered by the thousands. When I see them out there on the bitter lake, they are another reminder of the toughness of birds and their ability to endure even in the harshest cold. Watching them, I can't help but think about where they've come from — and how far they've traveled to reach our frozen shores. When we think about migration, we often picture birds leaving our area and heading south, or those breeding in the far north passing through on their way to Central or South America. But red-breasted mergansers follow a different path, migrating from northern Canada to the United States. Their nonbreeding/staging season is often spent along the edges of oceans and large lakes — including our own Lake Erie. Naturalist Jim McCormac has described the astonishing spectacle of red-breasted mergansers on Lake Erie: "The numbers of mergansers on this part of Lake Erie can be stupefying at times. Estimates of 20,000 birds passing by one spot in an hour have been made, as have one-day tallies of up to 250,000 birds," he wrote. "There is just no way to know if one is recounting birds that are swirling about in circular patterns or regularly passing by the same locale over and again. Any way one slices it, there are tens of thousands of mergansers staging on Lake Erie in late November and early December." Red-breasted mergansers are diving ducks — the kind that disappear completely just as you get your camera (if it isn't frozen) focused. Moments later, after searching for small fish, crustaceans, or tadpoles, they pop up somewhere else. They can stay submerged for up to 30 seconds and sometimes work collectively to herd fish. They use their thin, serrated bills to grip their prey and need 15–20 small fish a day — which translates into roughly 300 dives daily. They may be the fastest of all ducks, clocked at 81 miles per hour — though reportedly one reached 100 mph while being chased by a plane. Like other diving ducks, their legs sit far back on their bodies, so they need a running start to get airborne. It's entertaining to watch videos of this — sometimes they simply glide back into the water like kids off a waterslide. It looks pretty fun. Red-breasted mergansers are also known for their "bad hair." Sometimes they look a bit ridiculous, especially the beautiful but more subdued females. Males are noticeably different from both common and hooded mergansers, though females can be trickier to tell apart. Males have a green head, thin red bill, red eye, and — no surprise — a reddish chest. It's not uncommon to find all three merganser species hanging out together. It takes males about two years to develop their full, brilliant plumage. According to All About Birds, "Red-breasted Mergansers nest along forested riverbanks, marsh edges, lakeshores, coastal islands, and sandy shores with vegetation. They are never far from water and thrive in both freshwater and marine habitats. Female Red-breasted Mergansers select a spot on the ground under dense cover from low tree branches, fallen logs, or boulders. They nest alone or in colonies, often with gulls and terns." They typically have clutches of 8-10 eggs, but up to 24 eggs, and the young leave the nest within 24 hours. The oldest recorded red-breasted merganser lived almost ten years—though it is suggested that they can live up to 20 years. Today, they are doing well, with an estimated global population of about 370,000. So maybe this holiday season, grab your gloves, hat, binoculars, and a cup of hot chocolate, and make the trip to the lake to look for these fast-flying, red-billed, green-headed ducks with really bad hair. Field trip The Black River Audubon's October field trip will be Saturday at the Crook Street Wetlands, 38543 Crook St., Grafton. Meet at 9 a.m.