Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Old Squaw Duck

That's what it was.

In Sunday's blog, I posted a photo of this...


an unknown duck.  An alert reader informed me that this is an Old Squaw Duck, now more politically correctly called a Long-Tailed duck.  Click on this link and scroll to the very bottom and you'll see what the adult version looks like. 

For all you birders out there, I found a good website dedicated to sea ducks called The Sea Duck Joint Venture.  Interesting stuff.  According to them, this duck can dive to 200 feet (which is a duck record) and bottom feeds on mussels, crustaceans, clams, snails, and small fish.  Only the males have the long tail.  He is also supposed to be in the Artic at this time of year.   I wonder what he's doing here? 

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