Tag Archives: Long-tailed Duck

Open Water Means Life

White-winged Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Greater Scaup

White-winged Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Greater Scaup. March 2014. (click to see the larger version)

Lake Michigan is a huge body of water. At 300 miles long and almost 120 miles at its widest, it’s rightly considered an inland sea as much as a large lake. In winter, Lake Michigan supports tens if not hundreds of thousands of waterfowl. Most are Common and Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, Long-tailed Ducks, and Greater Scaup. Any open area of water on the Lake will host at least a few of these species in winter. These birds depend on the Lake for food. As long as they have access to open water they can hunt for fish, crustaceans, and mollusks and survive the worst that winter has to offer. They’re all resilient birds. Lake Michigan has never completely frozen over, but it’s come close. The winter of 2013/2014 was especially cold and saw a 93% peak ice coverage in early March. The stress this puts on the birds that depend on having open water is enormous. Some don’t make it. I remember the winter of 2013/2014. In early March, Lake Michigan was frozen to the horizon at Montrose Point in Chicago, with a tiny open spot off the southeast point. In this open spot were a group of Greater Scaup, White-winged Scoters, and Red-breasted Mergansers, all desperate and trying frantically to survive. The only thing keeping the water from freezing was their paddling and movement. I found several dead ducks, some frozen on the ice, and a few even on land. This is a reminder of how harsh nature can be, and what happens when a resource becomes unavailable to large numbers of birds.

Red-breasted and Common Mergansers and Herring Gulls

Red-breasted and Common Mergansers and Herring Gulls. February 2021. (click to see the larger version)

As I write this post in mid-February 2021, Chicago is experiencing a stretch of unseasonably cold late winter weather. Most of Lake Michigan at Montrose is frozen to the horizon, with small areas of open water at the harbor mouth and off the fishing pier. From a birding point of view, checking these open areas is worthwhile since they tend to attract and concentrate ducks and gulls. In addition to the expected Common and Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Goldeneye, we’ve seen Long-tailed Duck and Black Scoter. According to NOAA, Lake Michigan has about 27% ice coverage, a far cry from 93% in 2014. If the unseasonably cold weather persists, the 27% will no doubt increase.

February 10, 2021 – Waterfowl and Gulls

Black Scoter

Black Scoter (click to see the larger version)

I walked over to Montrose on February 10, the first time I’ve been there since the polar air and bitter temps set in a week ago. Not surprisingly, Lake Michigan was mostly frozen, though an area of open water extended from the harbor mouth and along the shore up to the fishing pier. Hundreds of waterfowl and gulls were here, mostly Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, and Herring Gulls. Best were a female type Black Scoter, a female Long-tailed Duck, seven Iceland Gulls, and a first cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. A frozen Lake Michigan concentrates waterfowl in the remaining open water; these conditions are great for birding but admittedly hard on the birds. More photos are at my eBird checklist for the morning, URL below.

eBird Checklist
February 10, 2021

Long-tailed Duck, February 2, 2021

Long-tailed Duck with a fish (click to see the larger version)

A very tame female Long-tailed Duck showed up in the harbor on February 1. She was still there on February 2. The bird has a pale spot on the bill, a mark I associate with male Long-tailed Ducks, but I think the head is too dark for a young male and the scapulars are brown, not pale gray as would be expected on a young male Long-tailed. Note the small fish she caught in the photo. More photos of this bird are at my eBird checklist for the day, URL below.

The west side of Montrose Harbor is still open and has been hosting a decent variety of waterfowl for us and for the time of the year, including Greater and Lesser Scaup, a Bufflehead, an American Black Duck, and until recently, a Brant and Snow Goose. This will probably change with the bitterly cold air forecast to arrive over the weekend.

eBird Checklist
February 2, 2021

Long-tailed Duck, October 28, 2020

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck (click to see the larger version)

A female Long-tailed Duck has been hanging around the fishing pier at Montrose for the last few days. On October 28 I saw her near the end of the pier on the Lake Michigan side. Long-tailed Ducks are uncommon but regular late fall through early spring visitors to Montrose.

October 28 was an interesting day with a nice mix of birds. I ended up with 49 species for about 2 hours of effort, and 60 species were reported to eBird for the day. Some of my highlights include

White-winged Scoter – 1
Dunlin – 2
Greater Yellowlegs – 1
Bonaparte’s Gull – 6
Great Egret – 1, getting late
Gray Catbird – 1, getting late
Snow Bunting – 3
Vesper Sparrow – 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow – 1, getting late

Link to my eBird checklist for October 28 below, which includes more photos of the Long-tailed Duck and a few other birds.

eBird Checklist
October 28, 2020

Ducks (lots of ’em), March 20, 2020

Northern Shovelers

Northern Shovelers (click to see the larger version)

A strong flight of ducks took place at Montrose on March 20. In about an hour and a half of lakewatching I saw the following

Wood Duck – 30
Blue-winged Teal – 6
Northern Shoveler – 200
Gadwall – 15
American Wigeon – 8
Northern Pintail – 15
Green-winged Teal – 120
Ring-necked Duck – 40
Greater Scaup – 15
Lesser Scaup – 100
White-winged Scoter – 2
Long-tailed Duck – 1, continuing female in the harbor
Bufflehead – 10
Common Goldeneye – 20
Hooded Merganser – 8
Common Merganser – 3
Red-breasted Merganser – 200

We usually get a day or 2 each spring when large numbers of ducks move north like this. The numbers of Northern Shovelers and Green-winged Teal were most impressive. Interestingly, the winds were from the north and strong, which means these birds were flying into a headwind. I also had 2 flyby Common Loons, my first of the year.

In the above photo, note the spoon-shaped bills of the Northern Shovelers, a field mark that makes them easy to identify, even in flight.

eBird Checklist
March 20, 2020

Another Long-tailed Duck, February 24, 2020

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck (click to see the larger version)

Two female Long-tailed Ducks have been frequenting Montrose Harbor, a darker, probably immature bird, and this whiter headed individual. The darker bird hasn’t been seen in a while but the pale Long-tailed was still around on February 24.

On a side note, I grew up calling this species Oldsquaw; it took some time and effort to get used to calling it Long-tailed Duck.