Goosander

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Goosander in the UK

A resident and winter visitor. It first nested in Scotland around 1871 and has since spread through northern England, Wales and into south-west England. The UK holds about 4,800 breeding pairs and around 15,000 birds in winter, when local breeders are joined by birds from the Continent. The breeding range more than doubled between the 1970s and 2010. Numbers have slipped since the mid 1990s, with both the breeding and winter counts down by roughly a fifth. It is Green-listed. Because it eats young salmon and trout, some are shot under licence on fishing rivers.

Where and when to see a Goosander

From March to July look on fast, clear rivers with wooded banks in Scotland, northern England, Wales and Devon. Females lead broods of ducklings downstream in May and June. From October to March check reservoirs, gravel pits and large lakes almost anywhere, including town park lakes. Birds fish by day and gather to roost on open water at dusk, so late afternoon gives the highest counts. Hard weather on the Continent pushes more into southern England. It prefers fresh water. A sawbill on the sea is more likely a Red-breasted Merganser.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Upland rivers, reservoirs.
Diet: Salmon parr, trout.
Field note: Sawbill duck; clashes with anglers.

How to identify a Goosander

Bigger and longer-bodied than a Mallard, riding low with a long, thin, hooked red bill. The male looks white at a distance, often with a salmon-pink flush, with a bottle-green head that appears black and a black back. The female is grey with a rich chestnut head, a drooping crest and a clean white chin. Her brown head ends in a sharp line against the pale neck. In flight both look long and stretched, flying fast and straight with large white wing patches. They often swim with the face under water, looking for fish.

Call and song

Mostly silent. Females give a harsh, rolling 'karr' in flight or when leading young. Displaying males in late winter make a soft, ringing, frog-like croak that carries across still water. Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Red-breasted Merganser: Female Merganser is slimmer with a thinner bill and a wispy crest, and her dull brown head blurs into the neck with no sharp line.
• Common Goldeneye: Goldeneye is smaller and dumpier with a short dark bill and a peaked head, and the male shows a round white face spot.
• Mallard: A drake Mallard also has a green head but shows a yellow bill, brown breast and grey body, not a red bill and white flanks.

Related guide UK winter wildfowl.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Goosander is an Uncommon tier bird, worth +3 points when you log one. It is not on the Red or Amber lists in Birds of Conservation Concern 5.

Where to see it

Reserves where the Goosander is on the list:

• Rutland Water

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Red-breasted MerganserUncommon · Sea-lochs
• Common PochardUncommon · Reservoirs
• Common SandpiperUncommon · Upland streams
• Egyptian GooseUncommon · Parkland lakes
• GadwallUncommon · Reservoirs
• Great Black-backed GullUncommon · Coast

Goosander: quick answers

What does a Goosander eat?

Fish, caught by diving and gripped with the saw-toothed edges of the bill. Young salmon and trout feature on upland rivers, but it also takes minnows, eels, perch, roach and whatever small fish are commonest. Most prey is small, though it can swallow fish of a surprising size.

Where do Goosanders nest?

In holes in riverside trees, and sometimes in rock crevices, banks or nestboxes. Ducklings jump from the hole within a day or two of hatching and follow the female to water. Small ducklings often ride on her back.

Why do male Goosanders vanish in summer?

Drakes leave the breeding rivers in early summer, once females are sitting. Most British males fly to northern Norway to moult and do not return until autumn. Rivers in June hold only brown-headed birds: females and young.

Kit that helps

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