Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) - female vs first winter male

In the winter, one of the problems of deciding whether or not the red breasted merganser that you are observing is a female or is it a first-winter male. After I researched the subject, the way to tell the first year-male from a female red-breasted merganser, is that the first-winter male red-breasted merganser as a black ring around its eye, while the female red-breasted merganser has whitish eye crescents.

Red breasted Merganser Mergus serrator ROT 5640 Edit — Female Taking off – white eye crescents

red breasted Merganser Mergus serrator Reb breasted Meganser Female ROT 3432 — red-breasted Merganser – Mergus serrator

Red breasted Merganser Mergus serrator D8C7519 Edit — Female with White eye crescents

red breasted Merganser Mergus serrator D8C6053 — First-winter Male with black eye ring

Red breasted Merganser Mergus serrator D3S4498 Edit — White eye crescents on a female

Myer Bornstein

I photograph the natural beauty of Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island and other locations Country and elsewhere. I also publish a blog about the area and other interesting vistas and locations.

Myer Bornstein

Myer Bornstein –Photo Bee 1 has been involved in photography for many years and studied photography at the New York Inst. of Photography. He is now retired and photographs the natural beauty of Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island and other locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica. He also publishes a blog about his works natural history and includes, book and equipment reviews. You can view my blog at http://photobee1.blogspot.com/ Myer Bornstein has won 1st Place in the South Shore Massachusetts Daniel Webster Photo Contest, Best of Show in the Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island 2011 Photo Contest, and was one of the twenty-four finalists in the 2011 Massachusetts Audubon Photo Contest. He received one of three Judges' Choice prizes in the "Share the View" International Nature Photography contest in 2011 plus had second picture as one of the featured 250 runner ups. He also placed another photograph in the 2012 contest. He was awarded first place in the “Chasing the Light” Juried competition, Flights of Fancy. He’s has also been published both on line and in Nature Magazines and in Books. Recently he had the honor of having the first "50" point photograph in the Pro-Am tournament conducted by The Images for Conservation Fund in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He teaches photography classes and instructs about Lightroom 4. He also is a volunteer naturalist and photographer for Allen Pond Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary located in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.