BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
THE DUCK FROM 'DOM PEREGRINE - VERY COLD DUCK FOR DINNER'
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Afew years ago I wrote about this duck from another perspective. I watched as one was ridden down from the sky in the talons of a Peregrine Falcon, thumping onto the beach. Immediately some Great Black-backed Gulls flew in to take away the falcon's prey and the Peregrine tried to fly away with the duck, but found it too heavy. Our duck fell to the ground, rolled over, sprang into the air and headed rapidly out to sea, living to fly another day.

Long-tailed ducks

This duck is the most abundant bird on our Christmas Bird Counts, averaging over 66,000 over our 52 years of data. Diligent counters tallied 525,505 on the 2002 count. Can you imagine counting that many of anything? The word fun is no longer appropriate. It is just plain hard work. Economists study something called 'marginal utility'- how much is one more of something worth? Depends on how many you've got. After counting 100,000 ducks you aren't so excited about the 100,001st one! But we do it anyway.

We called them "Old-Squaws" as I was growing up, not knowing about political correctness. I would go down to the end of the old Steamboat Wharf early in the morning and hear their cacophony rolling across the glassy surface of our icy harbor. The hunters call them "south-southerlies" and those spoken words capture the rhythm of their hooting call. With hundreds of them doing it at once they sounded like what a young boy would imagine an Indian village would sound like while the men were off hunting.

This bird is abundant across northern Europe and Asia as well and there it has always been known as the Long-tailed Duck. In 2000 our American Ornithological Union decided it was time to relegate the Old-Squaw to history and we now are trying to remember we should be calling them Long-tailed Ducks.

Their scientific name, Clangula hyemalis, translates to a wintry sound or clamor. These birds look so different from winter to summer that they were once known by two names, this one and Clangula glacialis. The two plumages are almost like photographic negatives of each other so this confusion is easily forgiven.

Long-tailed Ducks are small, very streamlined and graceful. Their 21-inch measurement in the bird book falls within the Mallard's range. But almost a quarter of this length is the long and pointed tail. So measurements can be misleading. Roger Tory Peterson describes it as the only sea duck mainly white on the body with dark wings. In winter, the drakes have white heads and necks, with a dark brown eye patch. In summer, their heads and necks are dark brown with a white eye patch. The drakes have a pink bill, unusual in the duck world. The females are similar but not as gaudy, and lack the really long and almost curly tail of the male.

In our hemisphere, Long-tailed Ducks nest in the farthest north reaches of land, from Alaska across northern Canada into northern Greenland. Their nest is in a simple depression on the ground, lined with grass and reeds and with down plucked from their own bodies. Typically five to seven eggs are laid and then taken care of by the mother.

Here on Nantucket a few will actually spend the summer. These are birds choosing not to breed for some reason. My first sighting was a startlingly beautiful drake near the Brant Point Lighthouse one July morning back in 1954, near my 13th birthday. The migrating birds show up in mid-October and then build to huge numbers in November.

During the winter season this species performs a spectacular flight twice each day, usually across the west end of our island. Nighttime is usually spent on Nantucket Sound, in the lee of Tuckernuck Island. Almost before a human can discern a graying in the eastern sky, they start their commute out to the ocean. They feed and socialize from near shore to perhaps 15 miles south of our island during the daylight hours. Before 3 p.m., the vanguards of these hundreds of thousands start back across the island for their evening's rest.

Most days they cruise in ragged flocks, like plumes of smoke on the horizon to the west of Madaket. Depending on the wind and the positioning of predators like Peregrine Falcons, they cross near the end of Smith's Point. Some days they are so high they can scarcely be seen. On others they are just above the water, skimming through the troughs of the waves.

Their schedule and route can be difficult to predict. Occasionally they will fly right over town. Aweek ago I stepped out onto my back deck in Monomoy and heard that same wonderful yammering I remember as a child from Steamboat Wharf. I looked up and counted thousands of them going over, perhaps 700 feet up in the air, heading directly for Surfside.

Living on Nantucket you are fortunate to be able to experience this marvelous phenomenon twice each day. Unless the weather is too severe these flights continue through the entire winter. The Long-tailed Duck's winter range extends all the way to the icy waters off southern Greenland. They are hardy birds that almost seem to laugh at extreme winter weather. Hearing their exhilaration can be contagious even to us humans. Winter is a wonderful season and spring is not far away. By the end of April our 'southsoutherlies' will be mostly away from us so enjoy

them while you can. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information.

To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781- 259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net.