Long-Tailed Duck

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Listen to the Long-Tailed Duck

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About the Long-Tailed Duck

The Long-tailed duck is a slim, brightly plumaged sea duck. Smaller than the scoters or eiders. Flight is swift and low with constantly changing bunched-flock formations. Long-tailed ducks have a very complex cycle of plumages. In winter, long-tailed duck drakes have a white head, neck and upper breast with a gray cheek patch and a large black patch below the cheek. The drake’s body is white and black. During the breeding season, the drake’s head is black with a white/grey cheek and eye patch. The hen has a brown head and body with a white patch around the eye and white under the tail. In all plumages, long-tailed ducks have dark wings and the drakes have long central tail feathers. They are very vocal, with their yodeling voice carrying across tundra and coastal habitats.