Harlequin ducks breed in Alaska and Yukon, south to Wyoming, California, and Massachusetts, from southern Baffin Island and Quebec south to Labrador and the Gaspe Peninsula. They also breed in Greenland and Iceland. They winter along the coasts of the Bering Sea Islands, Japan, Korea, China, California, and from southern Labrador to Long Island.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
Other Geographic Terms: holarctic
Harlequin duck females and immature individuals are cryptically colored to protect them from predators. They are also vigilant and will swim or fly to escape threats. Reported predators include bald eagles, jaegers, ravens, and river otters on adults, and mink, martens, foxes, and wolves on nests.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Harlequin ducks are between 35.6 and 50.8 centimeters and weigh 0.45 to 0.68 kilograms. Males have blue-grey bodies with chestnut flanks and distinctive white patches on the head and body. These white patches are outlined with black. In flight males show white on their wings with a metallic blue speculum. Females are dusky brown with two or three whitish patches on the sides of the face. Females do not have any white on their wings in flight and do not have a speculum. However, when this species molts it is hard to distinguish between males and females.
Range mass: 0.45 to 0.68 kg.
Range length: 35.6 to 50.8 cm.
Range wingspan: 61 to 70 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes colored or patterned differently; male more colorful
Lifespan of harlequin ducks normally ranges from 12 to 14 years in the wild. There is no information on the lifespan of harlequin ducks in captivity.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 12 to 14 years.
Harlequin ducks live along fast flowing streams and rivers in rocky terrain with plenty of vegetation, such as trees, during breeding season in the summer. The offspring cannot be seen very well in this type of terrain. During summer they can be found as high as 3352 meters above sea level. In wintering locations they feed and rest in shallow shore waters, along rocky coastlines.
Range elevation: 0 to 3352 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; polar ; terrestrial ; saltwater or marine ; freshwater
Terrestrial Biomes: tundra ; forest
Aquatic Biomes: rivers and streams; coastal
Other Habitat Features: riparian
Harlequin ducks eat primarily an animal diet of invertebrates and some fish. They have been reported eating crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and small fish. Harlequin ducks dive for their food but also dip their heads in shallow water to obtain food.
Animal Foods: fish; eggs; insects; mollusks; aquatic crustaceans
Primary Diet: carnivore (Piscivore , Eats non-insect arthropods)
Harlequin ducks are important members of the ecosystems they inhabit. They are parasitized by lice and ticks.
Ecosystem Impact: creates habitat
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Ducks in general have always been important to humans. Many types of ducks are hunted and consumed by cultures around the world. As a game animal, harlequin ducks have an economic importance to the duck hunting industry.
Positive Impacts: food ; research and education
There is no evidence suggesting that harlequin ducks have a negative impact on humans.
Harlequin ducks are not endangered currently. At one point they were considered threatened on the Atlantic coastline. These ducks are susceptible to oil spills, since they spend most of their time in the water, and high mortality has resulted from previous oil spills. For example, Alaskan harlequin ducks were still exhibiting reduced survival rates as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as late as 1998. Logging is a significant threat in the state of Washington because it removes suitable forests along the streams that these ducks use during the breeding season. Also, logging causes silt build up in streams, reducing the amount of prey available.
US Migratory Bird Act: protected
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Harlequin ducks communicate mainly with vocalizations. Males also perform courtship dances to attract females.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
In the northeast this species has the nickname "The Lords and Ladies".
When a female is looking for a mate, one characteristic that is looked for is bright plumage, indicating sexual selection in this sexually dichromatic species. Nice plumage is seen as a sign of good health. A female duck wants to choose a mate that will be able to protect her from other males during the mating season. Plumage of males is affected by age and the time of their last molt. Males also perform courtship dances to attract females. They will often shake their heads and tails while making a whistling noise when they are around females. They may also make short, ritualistic flights close to the water surface.
Mating System: monogamous
Harlequin ducks choose their mates beginning around October. Breeding begins in May and June. Harlequin ducks are seasonally monogamous, with pairs forming for a single breeding season. Females lay from 5 to 8 eggs, which hatch after 27 to 29 days. Young fledge and become independent by 70 days old. Breeding success for both males and females remains low until the age of 5, even though they become sexually mature at around 2 years old.
Breeding interval: Harlequin ducks breed once yearly.
Breeding season: Harlequin ducks breed from May to June.
Range eggs per season: 5 to 8.
Range time to hatching: 27 to 29 days.
Range fledging age: 60 to 70 days.
Range time to independence: 70 (low) days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Females invest heavily in raising their offspring. Males participate in nest building. Once a female begins to incubate the eggs, the male leaves and migrates back to the ocean to undergo the annual molt. Females incubate eggs with her down feathers and through the development of a brood patch, where she loses feathers. This way, not only are the down feathers heating the eggs, but when she is on the nest her bare skin will be directly on the eggs transferring her body heat efficiently. The brood patch actually fills with fluid to help incubate the eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the female takes her hatchlings to the water within a few days of hatching and teaches them how to catch and find their own food. Approximately 45 days later the offspring begin to fly. Females continue to protect their young until it is time for both the mother and the offspring to migrate back to coastlines. Sometimes there is post-independence association with the parents because these ducks often migrate to the same area yearly.
Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); post-independence association with parents
The harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) is a small sea duck. It takes its name from Harlequin (French Arlequin, Italian Arlecchino), a colourfully dressed character in Commedia dell'arte. The species name comes from the Latin word "histrio", meaning "actor". In North America it is also known as lords and ladies. Other names include painted duck, totem pole duck, rock duck, glacier duck, mountain duck, white-eyed diver, squeaker and blue streak.
In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the harlequin duck in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Dusky and Spotted Duck". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from Newfoundland in eastern Canada.[2] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the harlequin duck with the ducks, geese and swans in the genus Anas. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Anas histrionica and cited Edwards' work.[3] The harlequin duck is now the only species placed in the genus Histrionicus that was introduced in 1828 by the French naturalist René Lesson.[4][5] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5] The name histrionicus is from Latin and means "theatrical" or "like a harlequin" (histrio means "actor").[6]
Two prehistoric harlequin ducks have been described from fossils, although both were initially placed in a distinct genus: Histrionicus shotwelli is known from Middle to Late Miocene deposits of Oregon, United States and was considered to form a distinct monotypic genus, Ocyplonessa. Histrionicus ceruttii, which lived in California during the Late Pliocene, was at first taken to be a species of the related genus Melanitta. The species is traditionally considered monotypic. The Eastern and Western populations are sometimes recognized as two different subspecies, the Eastern race being the nominate H. histrionicus histrionicus, and the Western race as H. h. pacificus, but there has been doubt on the validity of this taxon.
Adult breeding males have a colorful and complex plumage pattern. The head and neck are dark slate blue with a large white crescent marking in front of the eye that extends up to the crest, a small round dot behind the eye, and a larger oval spot down the side of the neck. A black crown stripe runs over the top of the head, with chestnut patches on either side. A black-bordered white collar separates the head from the breast. The body is largely a lighter slate blue with chestnut sides. A black-bordered white bar divides the breast vertically from the sides. The tail is black, long and pointed. The speculum is metallic blue. The inner secondary feathers are white and form white markings over the back when folded. The bill is blue-grey and the eye is reddish. Adult females are less colourful, with brownish-grey plumage with three white patches on the head: a round spot behind the eye, a larger patch from the eye to the bill and a small spot above the eye.[7]
Their breeding habitat is cold fast moving streams in north-western and north-eastern North America, Greenland, Iceland and eastern Russia. The nest is usually located in a well-concealed location on the ground near a stream. They are usually found near pounding surf and white water. They are short distance migrants and most winter near rocky shorelines on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. They are very rare migrants to western Europe.
The eastern North American population is declining and is considered endangered. Possible causes include loss of habitat due to hydroelectric projects and loss of life due to oil spills near coastal areas.
These birds feed by swimming under water or diving. They also dabble. They eat molluscs, crustaceans and insects. Harlequins have smooth, densely packed feathers that trap a lot of air within them. This is vital for insulating such small bodies against the chilly waters they ply. It also makes them exceptionally buoyant, making them bounce like corks after dives.
Harlequin ducks adhere to a monogamous mating system, during their winter mating season will form multi-year pair bonds, though the males rarely participate in paternal care. Young ducks begin courtship in their first winter, females will find success by the second year, yet the males will rarely form a persistent bond before their fourth winter. Harlequin males will have an alternate plumage during this winter mating season.
Both female and male harlequins exercise mate choice preference and pair-bond defense, to demonstrate fidelity to their partner. Either partner is able to divorce the pair-bond to pursue a higher-quality option, however this behavior is uncommon.[9]
The harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) is a small sea duck. It takes its name from Harlequin (French Arlequin, Italian Arlecchino), a colourfully dressed character in Commedia dell'arte. The species name comes from the Latin word "histrio", meaning "actor". In North America it is also known as lords and ladies. Other names include painted duck, totem pole duck, rock duck, glacier duck, mountain duck, white-eyed diver, squeaker and blue streak.
