- Who
- Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator)
- What
- 130 kilometre(s) per hour
- Where
- United States ()
- When
The world's fastest-flying species of game bird is the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator). Native to freshwater rivers and lakes across Europe, Asia, North America and Greenland, its maximum recorded level flying speed is 130 km (81 mph).
Various speeds have been published for the merganser. One specimen from a flock of six mergansers flushed from the Kukpuk River in Alaska by aircraft in May 1960 maintained an airspeed of 80 mph (128.7 km/h) for c.1,500 ft (457 m) - an equivalent ground speed of 100 mph when accounting for the 20 mph wind. And in a different study, four specimens timed by radar reached a maximum speed of 43.2 metres per second (155.5 km/h; 96.6 mph) over a 10-second gliding dive.
The Guinness Book of Records was founded after the Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, Sir Hugh Beaver, posed the question: "What's the fastest game bird in Europe?" Although the books never did tackle this original question - owing to their focus purely on world records - the red-breasted merganser would be the most likely answer; it is fully migratory and still occasionally hunted.
