If Mergansers look scruffy then Goosanders look immaculate, especially the males, their big bodies entirely cream-coloured apart from a neat black line across the back and the contrasting black-looking head. Females might be mistaken for red-head Mergansers but see how the rich chestnut colour on the head ends abruptly at the neck and contrasts neatly with the pale chest. Also,the white wing panel lacks a dark line through it and the bill distinctively droops down at the tip instead of being swept up. The crest can look shaggy but a neatly hanging mane is more typical. In flight Goosanders have similar wing markings to Mergansers but the male Goosander has much more white on his body and the female lacks the dark line through the pale wing panel.

Breeds on the shores of wooded lochs and rivers. Winters on reservoirs, lakes and occasionally estuaries.

Breeds in small numbers on rivers and lakes in Scotland, northern England and Wales. Many birds winter on the Beauly and Moray Firths, with continental immigrants gracing many inland waterways in southern and central England.

A widespread breeding bird in northern Europe, wintering further south. The most impressive concentrations are probably in north Norway where thousands of males migrate in late summer to moult. Large flocks can therefore be seen from late June onwards in Varanger Fjord and Tana Fjord (max 30,000 in September).

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