Long Tailed Duck List of Facts How Long Do Long Tailed Duck Babies Stay With Mom
Long-tailed ducks often swim together in pocket-sized aggregations. (Bemep/Flickr)
The long-tailed duck has a brusque chisel-shaped bill, used to snatch upwardly prey from the sea flooring. (Nathan Rupert/Flickr)
Unlike well-nigh ducks, long-tailed ducks practise not ever have a distinct design—both sexes' coloration is a mixture of white, blackness, brown and gray. (Keven Law/Flickr)
The nests of the long-tailed duck are synthetic on dry state and hidden among rocks or other plant growth, often most the water's edge. 4 (Tim Bowman/Wikimedia Commons)
Once known as the oldsquaw, the long-tailed duck is a medium-sized diving duck with a curt beak and heavy torso, whose shape and structure are well-suited to diving deep into the water for food. Males possess two long and slender tail feathers, which requite the species its common proper noun.
Appearance
The long-tailed duck has a curt, chisel-shaped bill that curves at the tip and is used to snatch upwards casualty from the seafloor. Males and females have different patterns and coloring, and shift betwixt three different plumages as the seasons change. Dissimilar nearly ducks, long-tailed ducks practise not always have a singled-out design--both sexes' coloration is a mixture of white, black, brown and gray (although black wings are nowadays in both sexes throughout all plumages). Males, or drakes possess two long and slender tail feathers and often have a pink band near the tip of their black bill. Females have night wings, white sides and white cervix and lack the long central tail feathers.
Feeding
Deep divers, long-tailed ducks have been reported to forage for food at depths of upwardly to 200 anxiety, using their wings (more so than their feet) to swim underwater. In the Chesapeake Bay, birds normally dive to well-nigh 25 feet in club to achieve food. The birds feed on aquatic invertebrates, including insects and crustaceans and also swallow small fish, fish eggs and plant matter, including algae, grasses, seeds and fruits.
Predators
Long-tailed ducks are most vulnerable to predation on land. Avian predators include mew gulls, glaucous gulls and jaegers. Near breeding grounds, arctic and red foxes can besides pose a threat.
Flight
The flight of the long-tailed duck is low with stiff, shallow wing-beats, frequently tilting from side to side.
Voice
The long-tailed duck is a song species with an all-encompassing variation of calls and sounds integral in interspecies interactions similar mating or raising immature. Individual calls have been described as nasal growling, clucking, squawking and yodeling and tin can be heard across long distances. The male's phone call is a loud "ow-owoooleee." The call is a soft "gut-gut" when feeding, and a bawl when alarmed.
Reproduction and Life Wheel
Convenance takes identify in spring. Males showroom elaborate courting behavior, including dips, turns and a series of four or five deep-noted calls. The ducks may breed in single pairs or in loose groups. Pairs can re-form for several years or individuals may select new mates each mating season. Nests are constructed on dry land and subconscious among rocks or other plant growth, often near the h2o's edge and close to the nests of other long-tailed ducks. The nests are bowl-shaped and built of willow or birch leaves or grasses and lined with female'southward down feathers.
Females lay between half-dozen and eight pale gray to olive eggs. Incubation begins once all eggs are laid and lasts 24 to 30 days. Females raise one brood per flavour, merely can lay eggs several times in a season if previous clutches fail. When young brainstorm to walk, the mother leads her brood to h2o and teaches them to swoop for nutrient. First flying occurs after 35 to forty days, at which betoken fledglings class groups of three to iv broods that are tended by older females. The long-tailed duck'south average lifespan is fifteen.3 years.
Did You Know?
- Their Latin name, Clangula hyemalis, ways "noisy" and "wintery."
- Gregarious within their ain species, long-tailed ducks frequently swim in pocket-sized aggregations within a large, loose, undefined gathering of several hundred individuals. Notwithstanding, they generally do not associate with other bird species.
- Long-tailed ducks are hunted for sport in Denmark, and adults and eggs are part of the traditional diets of some Inuit communities.
Sources and Boosted Information
- Life in the Chesapeake Bay by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson
- Clangula hyemalis: long-tailed duck – University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Long-tailed Duck – The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Long-tailed Duck – Bird Web
Source: https://www.chesapeakebay.net/S=0/fieldguide/critter/long_tailed_duck