O.K.  I don’t expect 2021 to be nearly as action packed, life bird sightings wise, as the year 2020 was for me, since at this point I have no immediate plans to travel abroad.   However, I do need to be open to the possibility that 2021 may also be a year with a few surprises.  Like the surprise I had recently.  I acted on a red hot tip from Ebird when several reports out of Franklin County, MA alerted me to the presence of another rare and wonderful waterfowl species called the Harlequin Duck. Described in the ebird reports as a juvenile male, Initially, I delayed even looking for the specimen because, I thought something that rare couldn’t possibly persist in the area.  I thought my only hope for seeing one would be somewhere in coastal Maine, or a lucky encounter in Rhode Island. Seeing a harlequin duck this far south and this far inland would definitely be a once in a lifetime encounter.  After reports of the bird’s presence persisted for a week, I finally decided to take a little trip and seek out this rare and lovely bird.  Because, all birds are teachers I knew I had to learn a little about their behavior if I was to have any hope of photographing my new little friend.  So this is what I’ve learned from watching the bird so far. 1) Harlequin ducks like rapidly moving water. 2) Harlequin ducks aren’t as skittish as other diving ducks I have encountered such as mergansers, goldeneyes and buffleheads. 3)  Harlequin ducks are extreme feeders. I’ve never seen a such an extreme feeding technique performed by any other waterfowl. The harlequin would dive for his food, drift downstream a bit and then run upstream in order to return to the favorable food spot. For you folks who enjoy white water rafting and feel in need of a mascot, the harlequin duck is your bird.  The feeding behavior of the harlequin duck is fairly labor intensive, so after a few minutes of extreme feeding, the bird will seek out the nearest rock above the water surface climb upon it and then rest there a few minutes.  Another of the more interesting things I have learned about the harlequin duck is because according to the Cornell Ornithology Lab, “Harlequin Ducks suffer more broken bones than any other species, and X-rays and museum specimens have determined that most adults live with multiple healed fractures”.

I spent the next hour or two watching this bird forage.  The lighting was very extremely harsh, the bird was backlit, and most of the time he was well out of the range of my photo equipment.  I decided to walk downstream a little and sat down behind a bush.  Apparently, the duck grew tired of where he was feeding.  Then he drifted downstream more or less to  the spot where I was sitting, so he could to sample the cuisine there.  This is when he finally came within range.  Unfortunately a bush separated me from the duck.  Fortunately, there was a triangular shaped opening in the offending bush, so I aimed the camera through the opening and attempted a few images.  Only the harsh lighting made this a very challenging session, but at least I walked away with a few images and a great memory of a first encounter of another life bird.

At the time of this writing, (Jan 11, 2021) the opportunity to see this magnificent duck this far inland is limited.  Perhaps the arctic frontal passage which is estimated to affect our area some time between January 21-Jan 24, may give our little visitor the northwest wind he needs to join his cohorts back on the Atlantic coast.  Only time will tell.

Addendum: Interestingly, as of February 2, 2021, the Harlequin duck has been sighted a little ways upstream from where he was formerly sighted.