Red-breasted merganser: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the red-breasted merganser lives – recorded in 45 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Mergus serrator
Group	Ducks, geese & swans
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	45 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe, North America
Mass	72 g (birth weight); 1.14 kg (male organism, adult weight); 908 g (female organism, adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Anseriformes
Family	Anatidae

Where does the red-breasted merganser live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the red-breasted merganser in 45 countries and territories across Asia, Europe and North America. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a red-breasted merganser?

Wikidata records the following for the red-breasted merganser: mass 72 g (birth weight); 1.14 kg (male organism, adult weight); 908 g (female organism, adult weight).

Is the red-breasted merganser endangered?

The red-breasted merganser’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the red-breasted merganser?

The red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) is a bird in the order Anseriformes and the family Anatidae, genus Mergus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the red-breasted merganser

The red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) is a duck species that is native to much of the temperate to subarctic Northern Hemisphere. The red breast that gives the species its common name is only displayed by males in breeding plumage. Individuals fly rapidly, and feed by diving from the surface to pursue aquatic animals underwater, using serrated bills to capture slippery fish. They migrate each year from breeding sites on lakes and rivers to their mostly coastal wintering areas, making them the most frequent species in the genus Mergus to frequent saltwater regularly. The worldwide population of this species is stable, though it is threatened in some areas by habitat loss and other factors.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Red-breasted merganser (revision 1356931841), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q189609 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).