Cotman aquarelverf (tubes),Winsor & Newton Watercolour professional, Hot pressed, 100% cotton, 300g/m2, 25.4 x 35.6 cm

The red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) prefer salt/brackish water to fresh water. This goosander spends the winter in sea that is not too rough. I saw (and photographed) this male on the sea side of the Brouwersdam. The male has a beautiful green head with a spiny crest (no comb has been passed through that). A bright red eye contrasts nicely with it. Underneath this green headdress is a white ring which turns to a rusty brown breast. The plumage on the body is black and white, with fine patterned feathers on the lateral flanks giving a kind of moire effect.

Females are less pronounced in color, uniform gray with a brownish head. But with the same spiny crest on the head!

They have a thin pointed orange-red bill on which there is a fine serration. This gives them a good grip on the water-flecked and slippery fish, crustaceans, worms and insects they eat.

Breeding on coasts and clear inland waters in taiga, mountain country and on the tundra. But it has also been a regular breeding bird in the Netherlands since the late 1970s, albeit in small numbers.

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