I saw my first Harlequin Duck off of Nauset Beach on Cape Cod this week. I had never seen one before!
I was taking a walk along the beach when I saw these three diving ducks a little bit offshore. I wasn’t sure what kind of ducks they were so I took a few photographs. They looked pretty dark with two white spots on their heads.
As I looked them up in my Sibley Guide to Birds, I learned that an adult breeding Harlequin Duck is very colorful, where an adult non breeding Harlequin Duck looks just like this from November to May.
Have you ever seen a Harlequin Duck?
I looked out of our kitchen window yesterday as it was snowing and down by the water at Meetinghouse Pond in Orleans on Cape Cod was a Great Blue Heron…waiting for lunch! Between the snow and reeds he was somewhat difficult to decipher but being my favorite bird, I just knew it was “Blue.”
I have never seen a Great Blue Heron wading in the marsh by our house, so it was quite a treat.
Not a great photograph as it was snowing and it was through the wet window, but still one of “Blue!” Awesome!
