Photo By Kemp Kemp
Long-tailed Ducks - Vancouver Island
The Long-tailed Duck ( formerly known as the Oldsquaw), is normally found in the low Arctic, in summer, and along Canada's west and east coasts (sometimes on the Great Lakes) in winter.
The ducks pictured above in Dave Kemp's photo, from Vancouver Island, are in winter plumage, but I'm not exactly sure whether they are male or female. Long-tailed Ducks have very different summer and winter plumages.
'Long-Taileds' are unique ducks of cold waters, hence their normal summer habitat is in the far north of Canada.
Breeding males are blackish with white cheeks, flanks and rear ends. In all plumages, males are recognizable by extremely long central tail feathers.
Dave Kemp is a British Columbia birder, stationed on Vancouver Island who occasionally shares his birding photos with me, which I sometimes use in my BarrytheBirder blogs. Many thanks Dave.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder
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