This beautiful Long-tailed Duck was swimming around off of MacMillan Pier the other day. He was gorgeous and he even posed for a few photos. (Click on blog link for other photos.)
“The stunning males have two mirror-image plumages: in summer mostly black with a white face patch; in winter mostly white with rich brown, black, and gray on the face. In all plumages they have extravagantly long, slender tail feathers. Females and immatures are smudgy brown and white, without the long tail. These prodigious divers can feed as deep as 200 feet, swimming with their wings, catching invertebrates and small fish.”
So many different sea birds in Provincetown Harbor this year. Wow! Isn’t he just beautiful?
Fun fact: 🙂
“The oldest recorded Long-tailed Duck was a female, and at least 17 years old when she was found in Alaska.”
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Long-tailed_Duck/overview#