Harlequin Duck

 The harlequin duck is a colorful duck that is found in the northern regions of North America, Greenland, Iceland, and Russia. The harlequin is separated geographically into two populations. The eastern population nests in the coastal areas of Iceland, Greenland, and eastern Canada. They winter in the coastal waters as far south as Maine. The western populations nests from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains in Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern United States. This population winters in the Pacific coastal waters as far south as California.

 The harlequin nest is built in a well hidden spot on the ground usually near the rapids of a rushing river. They are diving ducks so they find their food, typically fish, water bugs, and other invertebrates, by diving under the water. They prefer to hunt in rapids or other switch moving rivers. The top photo was taken a few years back. We had this male that wintered in the Mississippi for 4 years in a row. The bottom photo was taken in the Yellowstone River in Wyoming. Both pictures are of male birds. The females are much less colorful, as is the case with most ducks.

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin ducks are colorful waterfowl that breed in mountain streams and rivers in northwestern and northeastern North America. They are primarily found in Canada and Alaska, although they can also be found in Washington, Montana and Wyoming. They winter along the rocky shores of Alaska, Canada, Washington and Maine. They spend most of their time in fast moving water such as rapids. Although we have heard of people seeing them in the Yellowstone River over the years we have never seen one in Yellowstone until this year. When we arrived there were 5 birds hanging around in the rapids but by the time we left this was the only bird that still remained.

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.

Harlequin Duck

For a few years we were lucky enough to have a harlequin duck winter in the Mississippi river not far from home. These interesting looking ducks usually spend their summers breeding in fast moving mountain streams and rivers along the eastern coastal areas of Canada and western coastal areas of Alaska, Canada and down into Washington State. They typically winter in the northern Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters of the U.S. and Canada. That is why it was so strange to have one wintering here in the middle of the continent. It was first spotted in the winter of 2007 -2008 and it returned to the area for two more winters, this photo was taken in January of 2010. Unfortunately no one reported seeing it last winter so perhaps it decided to follow others of its kind to the coast. I am sure that I will head over to Prescott Wisconsin some time this winter when the temps are below zero just to take a look and make sure.

Watery Wednesday: Harlequin Duck

Winter in Minnesota is not the best time to be a birder however for the past couple of years we have been fortunate here in the Twin Cities to have a special visitor during the winter.

Harlequin ducks breed in Alaska as well as the west and east coasts of Canada. During the winter they move away from the fast moving rivers and streams of summer and head to the coast. Some will move down the coast traveling as far south as northern California on the west coast and Virginia on the east coast.

Occasionally a few may decide to winter in the central portions of the continent if they can find an adequate water source that will stay open during the entire winter and as long as it has the necessary prey available.

For the past two years one of these maverick harlequin ducks has decided to spend the winter on the Mississippi near Prescott, WI and Hastings, MN. Prescott and Hastings sit at the junction of where the St Croix and Mississippi River join. The churning waters caused by the collision of the two rivers helps to keep the water from freezing at this point. Even during extremely cold winters, such as this past winter, enough of the river stays open for the remaining ducks, geese and swans to find food and survive.

Since this is not a common bird to see in Minnesota I made numerous trips to Prescott back in January, which is when I took these pics. Often times it was difficult to locate the duck. Harlequins are small ducks and they swim very low in the water. They are approximately the same size as common goldeneye, and this one was often found swimming with or around goldeneye. It was even more difficult to photograph because I usually went out after work and by the time I arrived I would be shooting into a setting sun. When I got the opportunity to visit in the mornings I was often greeted by steam rolling off of the water because the water was warmer then the air around it. I can't really complain too much though since I only had to travel about 15 minutes to photograph a bird that I would typically have to travel to a coast to see. Hopefully it will return again next winter.

Watery Wednesday: Harlequin Ducks

It appears as though we are going to get lucky in southern Minnesota again this year. The harlequin duck that wintered near Prescott, WI last year appears to have returned again this year and will hopefully stay for the winter.
The reason why this is such a big deal is because there are few places in the United States where you can typically see a harlequin. Other then Alaska the only locations, in the US, that you may see one during the summer months are portions of Montana, Washington or northern Oregon. You can also find them along the Pacific Coast from Washington to northern California and along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to New Jersey during the winter but they are pretty rare here in the middle of the continent.

Harlequins are diving ducks. They mainly eat fish and marine invertebrates which they catch by diving under the water. The location that the duck has chosen to over winter is near the junction where the swift moving St Croix River joins into the larger Mississippi. This area does not typically totally freeze up during the winter which makes for good winter habitat for birds that require open water to survive. Other birds that are in the area besides the harlequin are common goldeneye, Canada geese, trumpeter swans, mallards, an occasional scaup or redhead duck, and bald eagles.

Last year I had several opportunities to photograph the harlequin but unfortunately I still have not got that perfect pic. Much of the Minnesota side of the river is not accessible where the duck typically is seen so most of the time I am shooting from the Wisconsin side. This often puts the duck a good distance away, like in the above shots, or even worse directly in front of the setting sun. Then there is the steam to deal with. During the winter the days that are not overcast are typically very cold. On these days the water temps are usually above the air temp and it creates a steam that flows off of the water making taking pics an extreme challenge. Hopefully this year I will get an opportunity the perfect harle pic.

Presidents Day Eagle and Harlequin Duck

Presidents Day is a paid holiday where I work. Since I was already up north for the Sax Zim Birding Festival I stayed in Duluth Sunday night and planned to do a bit more north country birding on Monday before I headed home. Unfortunately when I woke up that morning Duluth was dark and gray with cloud cover and fog. So I headed home in the morning instead of sticking around. The clouds continued for most of the trip home but cleared a bit as I approached the Twin Cities. Since it was still early I decided to head over to Prescott, WI to see if I could refind the harlequin duck that had been wintering there.
When I arrived I spotted a large shape in a tree on the Wisconsin side of the river.
I had to move down to the edge of the river to get a good mostly unobstructed angle.
I thought that it was fitting to get some eagle pics on Presidents Day but I was really hoping for the harlequin. As I moved north up the river I noticed a lone dark duck over by the railroad bridge. When I saw it dive under the water I knew that it was the harlequin.

It traveled between the two bridges constantly diving under the water in search of fish.
Even though it was clear that day it was extremely cold with a dangerously low windchill factor. So when the duck would move to the Minnesota side of the river and be too far away to get any good pics I would move to the truck. After a short warm up time I would check the river again and usually find that the harlequin had moved back with in range.
After taking a few shots I noticed one of my tripod feet was gone. While I retraced my steps trying to find the missing foot I lost track of the harlequin. This was a shame because I ran into another birder who had come looking for it. I let him know that I had just been photographing it but I was not sure where it had gone to. Since the bird was gone I decided to head home with frozen fingers and short one tripod foot.

How about a Cool Harlequin While you are Waiting

I am currently working on the pics that I took during the Sax Zim Festival of Birding but with over 20 GB of pictures to download and sort through, it may take me a day or two before I begin to get them posted. In the mean time here are some shots of the harlequin duck, which has been hanging around Prescott, WI, that I photographed last week before I left for Duluth.
Harlequin ducks are typically northern coastal birds which is why people get excited when they occasionally show up in our area.
This bird has been wintering here. This is the fourth time that I have been able to find him and get some pics since the first time, which was before Christmas.
One shore bird that I have not seen in Minnesota, but I did photograph quite extensively last year when we were in California, is the surf scoter.
The surf scoter is a sea duck that breeds in Alaska and Northern Canada and spends its winters in the waters of the Atlantic or Pacific coast.
The photos of both the male, in the first shot, and the female, above, were taken in the Moss Landing Harbor February of 2007.

Harlequin Duck

After participating in the Golden Eagle Survey, through the National Eagle Center, and then stopping at Colvill Park in Redwing, MN to shoot some pics of the eagles there I decided to head over to Prescot, Wisconsin to check and see if I could find the Barrow's goldeneye or harlequin duck that have been hanging out around that area this winter. The recent cold snap, the high temp that day was 0 degrees, had frozen up a lot more of the river then on my last trip there. All of Douglas Point was frozen and there was no open water until you got south of the bridges. So I went over to parking spot on the river in Prescott which is just north of the big marina. There were several groups of goldeneye out near the middle of the river, with mallards and Canadian geese closer to shore. I began scanning through the goldeneye from the car but did not see the target birds. I did notice a single duck that was at the edge of the shore. I could not tell what it was because I was facing into the west and the sun was beginning to get low in the sky, so it was pretty much just a silhouette. I knew that it was a duck because of its size compared to the geese around but since it was close to shore I thought that it was probably just a mallard. I got out of the car so that I could get a better angle to look at it with less sun behind it. At that point the duck dived under the water, which was a good indication that it was no a mallard since mallards are dabbling ducks and not diving ducks. I found it in the camera view finder as I started to move out further into the river and as soon as I got a good look I knew that it was the harlequin duck.

It was difficult to take pictures, with the sun, that was low in the sky behind the duck, the steam, that was rising off the river because the air was colder then the water, and my fingers, getting frost bitten in the 30 below wind chills. While the harlequin was identifiable in all the pics the shine of the setting sun on the mist was playing hell with my exposure.I think that this one was the one that turned out the best. I managed to move further up river to get a better angle on this one and because he was turned into the sun I did manage to capture some of the detail of its face. Even though a lot of the pictures were not as good as I hoped I think that this picture was worth the 45 minutes that I stood out in the cold.

In search of Ross's gull, snowy owl, and harlequin duck

While I was up in Duluth and Two Harbors doing the Christmas Bird Count last weekend all of the cool birds where spotted hanging out down in the Twin Cities. First there was a Ross's gull spotted in South Saint Paul, which is about 5 minutes from my house, on Saturday. Then a snowy owl was spotted at the Minneapolis Airport, 20 minutes from home, on Saturday and finally a harlequin duck or two was spotted in Hasting, MN, about 15 minutes from home.

I didn't get home from Two Harbors until after dark on Sunday and so Monday after work was my time to go out and chase the cool birds around the Twin Cities. Since the Ross's gull was extremely rare, only a few sightings ever reported in Minnesota, many people were out looking for it on Sunday with out any luck. So I decided to concentrate on the other two.

Since the airport is close to work I headed over there first. I drove around the airport a couple of times but did not see the owl. Daylight was quickly fading and I was getting worried about a visit from airport police or someone worse, driving around the airport looking for a bird tends to arise suspicion since 911, so I decided to make a quick trip over to Hastings.

When I got to the St Croix river, where the bird(s) had been seen, the sun was already low in the sky. I figured that I did not have a lot of time so I threw on my boots, grabbed my gear and headed down to the shoreline. There was quite a bit of activity in the open water so I began to scan for my target. The first thing to draw my attention were the larger birds like the Canadian geese and trumpeter swans.Next I looked further out but I just spotted some more swans coming towards me.

As the royal procession of swans swam by they were observed by a group of commoners, common goldeneye and common mergansers that is.I also spotted a few ring-necked ducks, redhead duck and canvasback but still no harlequin.The light was fading fast, it looked like I would be struck out 3 out of 3 on this day. I figured that I would try and salvage my time by checking out the goldeneyes to see if their might be any Barrow's mixed in with the commons.And that is when I spotted it. Mixed in with the goldeneye was a harlequin. I tried to keep the camera on him but the light was getting bad and he was quite a ways away.He moved off from the goldeneyes to go check out some chick. Ultimately I got him alone. These were definitely not great shots but this was my first harlequin, a lifer if I kept a true life list. Eventually I hope to build a website to go along with the blog and that time I will feature my life list, in pictures, on the site. Hopefully before that time comes I will have the opportunity to get some better pictures of harlequin ducks but if not I will be happy to at least have pictures that you can definitely identify as a harlequin.