Every Bird Matters

News and Views from International Bird Rescue

Patients of the week: Baby Hooded Mergansers

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HOMEPhotos © Suzi Eszterhas

All of our patients this week are deserving of the patient of the week honor, but we thought we would feature some of our youthful additions.

See them now on our Bird Cam

We have two baby Hooded Mergansers that arrived this week at our San Francisco Bay center. Photographer Suzi Eszterhas took a few images of an exam and feeding. Similar to our Mallard ducklings, these birds currently are kept in a “duckling box” with plenty of access to food.

Other baby patients in care include herons that have been rescued from the 9th Street Rookery in Santa Rosa, CA after they fell from their nests. More on these great birds next week!

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3 thoughts on “Patients of the week: Baby Hooded Mergansers”

  1. Hello,

    I live in Kodiak – AK and my husband and a friend found 6 orphaned baby mergansers yesterday. We have been trying to feed them some arugula in water as we saw on a site and some salmon eggs but no luck. We will try actual salmon meat today but was wondering what you guys give them.

    I am thinking of setting up a little “pool” like section and put some pieces of salmon in it so they can feel as if they are hunting food, as I read somewhere….

    Any tips on how to succeed will be appreciated. Not sure how old they are but they are as tiny as the one in the picture. When should we release them back in the wild>

    Thanks!
    Pascale

  2. Hello,

    Like Pascale, we have stumbled upon an orphaned baby Hooded Merganser. He wandered up our driveway yesterday and we took him in and gave him water, a box with a towel, and tried to give him some chicken starter and a bit of greens.

    He looks to be about a 2-4 days old (no more than a week) and loves to be cuddled and pet to sleep. I only found out he was a Hooded Merganser today while looking through other people’s posts on other websites with the same problem.

    Any information on what and how to feed him would be great! We looked for the mama duck and any sign of other babies for quite a while but none to be found. Me and my mom have raised and rehabilitated quite a few wild birds and mice and other animals including rabbits, turtles, and even a baby duck some time ago, so we are prepared to provide for him. All help is appreciated! Thank you!

  3. Looking for some tips on how to feed baby wild mergansers. Eggs rescued from duck house after hen was attacked and killed by a raccoon. They are not hatched yet, however I want to get as much prepared in advance in prep for a successful hatch. Any help would be great. thanks
    Lorette, Manitoba, Canada

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