Banner Photo by Ann Kramer

Featured Bird

Long-tailed Duck by Chris Wood/Macaulay Library

MEET THE LONG-tailed DUCK (Clangula hyemalis)

by Jeff Sinker

An excited murmur ripples through the small group of birders and everyone is excited to see these winter visitors because your best chance of seeing these beautiful slender ducks with long, delicate tails will be along coastal waters.

Long-tailed Ducks are unique among other diving sea ducks in a few ways. One is their “reverse plumage” because during the winter males sport their breeding colors (mostly black with a white face patch) and during the summer they are mostly white with rich brown, black and gray colors on the face. The long tail is present in males but not females. These ducks make use of extensive areas of sea ice where they utilize the edges and openings in the ice.

They dive deeper (up to depths of 200 ft.), stay underwater longer, and use their wings rather than their legs to propel themselves underwater.  Food preferences change with the seasons. When breeding, aquatic insects, fairy shrimp, fish eggs and some plant matter are on the menu; in winter small fish, such as herring, marine crustaceans and zoo plankton are preferred.

Male Long-tailed Ducks establish and defend a small territory on a pond or large lake and play no part in selecting a nest site or raising the young. After successfully breeding, the male will join other post-breeding males to molt before migrating to winter grounds. The female leaves the male’s territory and selects a nest site, often among other nesting females, and builds a simple nest on the ground lined with bits of dwarf willow or birch leaves. She will bury the first egg under a layer of grass and sedge before adding downy feathers after the second egg is laid. The ducklings can feed themselves as soon as they leave the nest with their mother although they are not expert divers at first.

Conservation concerns include changing ocean temperatures, overfishing of herring and lead exposure on their breeding grounds.

Learn more: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Long-tailed_Duck

Photo credit: Long-tailed Ducks by Chris Wood/Macaulay Library (see link above)