long-tailed duck

A non-breeding male long-tailed duck

Saw these smart birds for the first time last winter. Very happy:) The word Clangula comes from klang; which I understand is "scream" in Greek. This lead me to listen to its call - one worth listening. (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Long-tailed_Duck/overview). Two more points...

Pair of Long-tailed Ducks displaying on a melt water pond in Barrow, Alaska.

Long-tailed Duck traversing dry ground in Barrow, Alaska. To purchase images go to pictorem.com/profile/mike.ross or mikerossoils.fineartamerica.com

Have a great weekend y'all.

Finally sunny but very strong wind. This guy was taking off against the wind which helped me capturing him.

saw these beauties out at sea a bit to distant for a good capture but still nice seeing them.

A photo of my first Long-tailed Duck (lifer #371), a female seen from Fields Landing on the south side of Humboldt Bay. In addition to being a lifer, this was also my 300th recorded bird species in California.

One thing about winter birding, at least here in north east US, is that although the bird numbers are way down we do get these occasional visitors that grab everyone's attention. This Long-tailed Duck is one such visitor that has been hanging around some open local water for about 2 weeks now...

I have observed this "stretching" behavior in more than one species of duck. It consists of flapping of wings and "standing up" on the water. In this case, the male duck was a member of a mated pair, with the mate not far away. I don't recall whether the other...

This species is one of the most common few waterfowl breeders on ponds/lakes in Alaska's arctic tundra and near tree-line.