The first three photos of the Common Merganser Mergus merganser were taken on the McKenzie River in Oregon. Note the size of the fish in the mouth of photo 7312. Clearly Mergansers are not satisfied with small fish. This on is almost as big as the Merganser.
The remaining photos were taken on the Rouge River. Photo 6510 shows three Common Mergansers in flight illustrating the white trailing feathers (secondary’s) on the middle one-half of the upper wing. This is characteristic of females. In males front part of the wings (secondary coverts) are also white.