Long-tailed Duck

Clangula hyemalis

Happy at home out on the sea, the Long-tailed Ducks are prolific divers to depths up to 60 m (200 ft), spending three to four times as long underwater as they do on the surface.

Habitat

Look for Long-tailed Ducks in the high arctic during the breeding season near inland freshwater wetlands and lakes. In winter they congregate along the coasts of Canada, Alaska, the northern United States, and Greenland, as well as the Great Lakes.

Food

Long-tailed Ducks eat aquatic insects and tiny crustaceans, fish eggs, and some plant material. At sea they will marine crustaceans, mussels, small fish, and zooplankton.

Behaviour

Islands in wetlands and lakes are preferred nesting sites. Six to nine eggs are laid in a nest built on the ground. After hatching the young leave the nest to start feeding. Outside of nesting, they spend most of their time on the water. As excellent divers, they do not use their feet, but rather flap their half-open wings underwater to great depths.

Conservation

Numbers of Long-tailed Ducks are in decline, but reasons are unclear. Their remote nesting and feeding areas make data gathering difficult. There have been past cases of mass entanglement in fishing nets, but climate change, overfishing, and pollution, may be playing a part. They are a species of conservation
concern.

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