Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Harlequin

The harlequin is a duck of the far north. They breed in quick moving rivers and streams in places like Alaska, northern Canada, Iceland, Greenland and western Russia. They are named after Harlequin in Commedia del'arte, a character that was typically very colorfully dressed.
During the winter they typically migrate to the coastal seas. In North America most of the eastern population winters in the coastal waters of Maine. For about three years we had this male harlequin who came down and wintered in the open waters of the Mississippi River. Harlequins are diving ducks that eat fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects. So he spent his winter days diving for fish while many people where able to get a look at a bird that they had never seen before.




16 comments:

Leslie: said...

We have all sorts of ducks around here, but must admit to not ever seeing one of these. I'll keep a watch out though.

Leslie
abcw team

Nature Rambles said...

So beautiful!

Roger Owen Green said...

looks almost like a decoy!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Anonymous said...

Gosh what a beautiful duck!

photowannabe said...

I love his hood and mask. He's Handsome.

theconstantwalker said...

A lovely bird to see...

zongrik said...

gorgeous duck. never seen one like that

henderson hill

Deborah Kay at The Paint Splash said...

Cool duck. All we have are mallards on our lake. Blessings, Debbie

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

They look like they are wearing permanent formal wear! Very stylish indeed!

CDGardens said...

Great pictures! It certainly is a very ornately colored duck.

carol l mckenna said...

Love the harlequin shots ~namaste, carol (A Creative Harbor) linked with Watery W

2sweetnsaxy said...

Aren't they beautiful? I thought I saw this breed of duck once at the Arboretum. You mentioned they're from up north so now I'm not too sure. The one I saw had more orange in it.

Lady In Read said...

found your blog today via ABCWednesday and am so glad to have done so.. My nine year old son is a budding ornithologist - he picked up this interest all by himself a few months ago and now he is slowly turning into a bird encyclopedia! will show him this..

Lady In Read said...

and am following you now so will not miss new posts..

Springman said...

Yes, interesting ducks, wildly plummed!

Larry said...

A nice shot of a very cool duck I have still never seen!