Smew
Here's a rear view of the adult male Smew that I photographed on Belmont Reservoir a week or two back. The Oxford Book of British Bird Names by WB Lockwood says that the name Smew or Smee is imitative of the bird's whistling call, but listening to the call on Xeno Canto xeno-canto.org/608887 it sounds more like a grunting pig than a whistle. Francesca Greenoak's book says it is likely that the name is an old variant of the word small, and it is indeed smaller than the other Margansers. Wikipedia says that the name is of uncertain origin but is believed to be related to the Dutch smient ("wigeon") and the German Schmeiente or Schmünte, "wild duck."
DNA analysis has shown that it isn't closely related to the other Mergansers (Mergus) so a new genus was created for it; Mergellus (diminutive of Mergus). It may actually be closer to Goldeneye with which it has hybridised. Its specific name albellus means small and white (like Edelweiss).
Smew
Here's a rear view of the adult male Smew that I photographed on Belmont Reservoir a week or two back. The Oxford Book of British Bird Names by WB Lockwood says that the name Smew or Smee is imitative of the bird's whistling call, but listening to the call on Xeno Canto xeno-canto.org/608887 it sounds more like a grunting pig than a whistle. Francesca Greenoak's book says it is likely that the name is an old variant of the word small, and it is indeed smaller than the other Margansers. Wikipedia says that the name is of uncertain origin but is believed to be related to the Dutch smient ("wigeon") and the German Schmeiente or Schmünte, "wild duck."
DNA analysis has shown that it isn't closely related to the other Mergansers (Mergus) so a new genus was created for it; Mergellus (diminutive of Mergus). It may actually be closer to Goldeneye with which it has hybridised. Its specific name albellus means small and white (like Edelweiss).