Coates sees far fewer long-tails (
oldsquaw) than he did 20 years ago.
The shores of Long Island are some of the few places in New York where you can regularly see wintering sea ducks, including common eider, harlequin duck (rare), surf scoter, white-winged scoter, black scoter,
oldsquaw, bufflehead and common goldeneye.
The American Ornithologists' Union has changed the official American name of the duck Clangula hyemalis from "
oldsquaw" to the British designation "long-tailed duck" (42d supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union, Check-List of North American Birds, Auk 117 (2000): 847-58).
Occurring in tandem have been declines in various populations of Alaska sea ducks including, for example: (1) a 54 percent decline between 1976 and 1994 of nesting common eider (Somateria mollissima) in northern Alaska and the western Canadian arctic; (2) a 2.2 percent annual decline between 1977 and 1998 in black scoter (Melanitta nigra) in western Alaska; (3) a 5.5 percent annual decline of
oldsquaw (Clangula hyemalis) in surveyed areas in western Alaska since 1977; (4) over a 90 percent decline in spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri) in the YK-Delta from the 1970s to 1992; and (5) the virtual disappearance of Steller's eiders (Polysticta stelleri) from the YK-Delta since initial surveys in the 1960s (USFWS 1999).
The following species were numerous on migration: Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens), Northern Pintail (Anas acuta),
Oldsquaw (Clangula hyemalis), Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), and Sanderling (Calidris alba).
Breeding biology and behavior of the
Oldsquaw (Clangula hyemalis L.).
Oldsquaw (or long-tail duck, which they now are officially called due to political pressure, believe it or not) can be a nasty target.
Puddle ducks (9) -- mallard -- black duck -- wood duck -- pintail -- blue-winged teal -- green-winged teal -- American wigeon -- shoveler -- gadwall Mergansers (3) -- hooded -- red-breasted -- common Geese and Swans (6) -- Canada goose -- brant -- snow goose -- tundra swan -- mute swan -- trumpeter swan Divers (8) -- canvasback -- redhead -- ring-necked duck -- greater scaup -- lesser scaup -- common goldeneye -- ruddy duck -- bufflehead Sea Ducks (7) -- white-winged scoter -- surf scoter -- black scoter -- common eider -- king eider --
oldsquaw (long-tailed duck) -- harlequin duck
Each winter thousands of scoters, long-tailed ducks (
oldsquaw) and eiders migrate to the bays and shoal waters of Long Island.
Growth and movements of
oldsquaw ducklings in relation to food.
It was a pretty typical college pad, save the duck mounts lining the walls, which include a mallard, wigeon and
oldsquaw. A neck-banded snow goose stood on a coffee table.
This assumption is supported by the observations of westbound migration in June of nonbreeding pomarine jaegers, Stercorarius pomarinus, leaving their breeding range shortly after their spring arrival from the west (Richardson and Johnson, 1981); by the westward molt migration in summer of sea ducks like common eider and
oldsquaw (Johnson and Richardson, 1982); and by visual obse rvations of westbound autumn migration of this category of birds at Point Barrow and other places at the Beaufort Sea (Johnson and Herter, 1989).