Red-breasted Merganser at Barnegat Lighthouse

 

 

The red-breasted merganser looks like the common merganser. It prefers the salt water of Barnegat Bay to the freshwater of Lake Nelson.

Red-Breasted Mergansers

 

 

We saw a few red-breasted mergansers at Bolsa Chica. There were many more females (top) than males. The red-breasted mergansers are about the same size as the common mergansers and much larger than the hooded mergansers.