The Smew (Mergellus albellus) is the smallest of Sweden's mergansers, and the male in breeding plumage is so strikingly white — with fine black lines on the flanks and back and a black mask around the eye — that the species has earned the nickname "panda duck". It measures roughly 38–44 cm long, with a wingspan of 55–69 cm and a weight of 500–900 g. Females and immatures are greyer, with a reddish-brown head that contrasts sharply against a white cheek and throat. The short, narrow bill is dark with a small hook at the tip, adapted for gripping fish, and the bird looks small and rounded, diving frequently and for long periods; in flight the male's white body flashes clearly against dark water. The Smew is notably quiet, rarely heard — even in a flock it is close to silent, though low, creaking and grunting calls can pass between birds during display.
In Sweden the Smew breeds only sparsely, in scattered pairs on forest lakes and rivers in the north, but it is far more familiar as a winter visitor, when birds from eastern Europe and Russia arrive at ice-free waters in the south; the wintering population can reach several thousand birds between October and March, and the species is classed as Least Concern. It is a hole-nester, breeding in tree cavities — often an old Black Woodpecker hole — or in larger nest boxes near forest lakes, where the female lays 7–9 eggs and incubates alone; the downy, precocial young leave the nest hole and jump to the ground shortly after hatching before being led to water. As a diving duck it feeds on small fish and aquatic insects, hunting in quick dives and favouring calm, clear water where it can spot its prey by sight.
Read about this species in Swedish →