---
title: "Common Merganser"
description: "Mergus merganser — Birds. The common merganser or goosander (Mergus merganser) is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/common-merganser
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Common Merganser

> Mergus merganser — Birds. The common merganser or goosander (Mergus merganser) is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America.

- Scientific name: *Mergus merganser*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 131506
- Wikidata: [Q180991](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q180991)
- iNaturalist taxon: [7004](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/7004)

## Names

- en: Common Merganser
- de: Gänsesäger
- es: Mergo mayor
- fr: Harle bièvre
- nl: Grote zaagbek
- pt: Merganso-grande
- pl: Nurogęś

## Countries with the most observations

US (48904), CA (30049), RU (8911), GB (6459), DE (6172), CH (3205), IT (2659), AT (2518), FI (1964), PL (1484), FR (1476), SE (1186)

## Summary

The common merganser or goosander (Mergus merganser) is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. The name "common merganser" is used in North America, while "goosander" is used in Eurasia.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_merganser

## Photo

![Common Merganser](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/common-merganser/medium.jpg)

Photo: Bruce Cook · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/225003652

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/common-merganser?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).