Unusual duck
Beak long, slender and hooked
Goosander – female.
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n.b. The Goosander is also known as the Common Merganser, but it is not that common. I saw this female on the canal when walking towards Little Bloxwich.
It is a duck, longer than a mallard with a lower profile when on the water. The goodander has a distinctive fluffed back to its head and its beak is as described above. All seems well-suited to hunting under water amongst reeds and around rocks, or indeed around sunken shopping trollies, traffic cones and bits of discarded furniture.
https://www.birdwatching.co.uk/birdspecies/2017/10/20/goosander
CLP 26/03/2019
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