Breeding Common Mergansers at Pineview

["Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast dot net>]

I've been harboring suspicions that Common Mergansers breed at Pineview 
Reservoir in Weber County.  Now I know--it's true, it's true!  This 
afternoon I saw an adult female Common Merganser swimming through the 
flooded willows at water's edge south of the Middle Inlet Swim Area road 
with two young ducklings.  I'd guess that the little ones were less than 
2 weeks old.  

I saw pair(s) of Common Mergansers throughout the month of May at 
Pineview, a time that seems way too late for a northern breeder still to 
be present on the lake.  In addition, last summer while driving near the 
dam in a 55-mile blur, I saw three Common Mergansers on June 13th that I 
assumed were all females.  I figured they were independent, wild and 
crazy girls that were concentrating on their careers instead of getting 
tied down with families.  Now I've had second thoughts.  I bet the trio 
was a mom swimming with her adult-sized ducklings. I wish I had stopped 
to take a closer look.  

Most range maps show the Common Merganser to be only a transient or 
winter resident of Utah.  The Utah checklist classifies the bird as a 
rare summer resident and several years ago, Mark Stackhouse mentioned 
breeding had just been confirmed at the Deseret Ranch.  Add Pineview to 
the list of Common Merganser Northern Utah breeding locations!

Kris

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