American (Common) Merganser

Mergansers in flight
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Today was the first time we've seen Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser americanus), the american subspecies of the merganser known as the Goosander (M. m. merganser Linnaeus) in Europe.  These diving ducks always seem to appear just after we notice the South Branch of the Potomac has turned that familiar shade of winter green.


Mergansers have serrated bills, and like other diving ducks, their legs are positioned further back along their body.  This facilitates diving but also requires a running start to get up and out of the water.  They fish cooperatively and have a lot of other behaviors similar to cormorants, but they also nest in tree cavities.  I think of cormorants as among our most primitive birds, so it's interesting to consider these beautiful mergansers as modern semi-aquatic flying reptiles.

Be sure to use the database link in the upper right corner of this blog page to report what you're seeing.

South Branch Reached Action Level

I'm having difficulty determining just how much rainfall we received last week.  Our own South Branch Science Consortium Weather Station doesn't archive readings online, and with the Oldtown Bridge flooded, I didn't take the time to go to the Wood House from Romney and back on Thursday night.  I went to Romney for the watershed meeting hosted by Melissa Merritt for WVCA, but had to get back to Washington, D.C for meetings the next morning, and I couldn't afford the extra 90 minutes to get the data from the supporting laptop there.

My wife takes our more primitive rain gauges inside for the winter so the ice doesn't destroy them.  I'm a little suspicious of my annual accumulations too, as I've registered less than 30 inches this year, and I'll bet it's the wettest of the seven years I've been in Hampshire.

Every stream I passed from Goose Creek to the North River was significantly swollen, so I wasn't surprised by the spike on the South Branch at Springfield.

South Branch flooding, fresh tracks

(Click the photo to enlarge)

We always look forward to walking the beaches of the South Branch of the Potomac after the water recedes.  We have a particular spot where we always find a fresh collection of mammalian, avian and reptilian tracks.

If you recognize any tracks in this photo, post a comment.  Some of the tracks are from our German short-haired  pointers, who always beat us to the river on our walks.

Deer Management

This is the last week of deer season in Hampshire County until the brief winter private-property season at the end of December.  I've estimated between 40-55 deer per square mile around our area in northern Hampshire County.

Piebald white-tailed deer at Patuxent Wildlife Research Ctr.

Many deer management plans aim to reduce that population to under 20 deer per square mile.  Some metropolitan areas suffer from whitetailed populations over 100/mile2!

We're surrounded by the river on three sides and mountains on all four sides, so we have less immigration/emigration than most places.  As a result, we occasionally see evidence of a shrinking gene pool like unusual antlers and piebald deer.  Of course we also see a lot of tree damage.


This also suggests greater vulnerability to disease.  Not only do greater deer densities mean more interaction and the potential for spreading disease, but a reduced gene pool can also mean lesser resistance to all environmental challenges.

Venison Pizza

Hunting remains the best available option, particularly if you can convince hunters to harvest does.  I've lost enough young trees to antler rubs to appreciate harvest the bucks too, but harvesting a recently impregnated doe is much better for population management. 

My schedule this semester has been too busy to squeeze in any hunting, but my co-worker Shari brought in some ground venison this week.  I used over 1/2 pound, mixed with jalapeno peppers, on a single pizza.