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Sounds
Figure 2. Vocalization accompanying the Head-throw Display of the Hooded Merganser.
Vocalizations
Development
No information available.
Vocal Array And Social Context
Typically silent. Vocalizations most commonly heard during courtship and around nest sites. Male produces a rolling frog-like craaa-crrrooooo (Fig. 2), in conjunction with Head-throw and Turn-the-back-of-the-head courtship display and a hollow pop after Head-shakes (Johnsgard 1961b, 1965). Called “frog duck” in Georgia because call resembles that of the pickerel frog (Rana palustris). Females utter a hoarse gack associated with bobbing displays during courtship; this may be simultaneous with male vocalizations (Johnsgard 1961b, 1965). The more usual female call is a rough croo-croo-crook like many sea ducks (LHF), occasionally given in flight around nest or by females when calling to newly hatched ducklings (Beard 1964, KMD).
Nonvocal Sounds
Wings produce a whirring noise in flight similar to, but quieter than, goldeneyes.
Dugger, B. D., K. M. Dugger and L. H. Fredrickson. 2009. Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/098
