Happy Harlequin

Harlequin Duck Pair, Histrionicus histrionicus. Harlequin ducks are right up there with Wood Ducks and Mandarins for color! I remember seeing pairs of Harlequin Ducks up in mountain ponds in Prince William Sound, Alaska. They don't seem to flock or congregate in any sizeable numbers like some ducks do (for example, Ruddy Ducks). Just solitary pairs. Anyhow, these two were having a wing ding of a time the other day. Guess that's where all those cute ducklings come from, duh. I don't know how that female duck manages to not drown in the process but it's a pretty quick affair so a bit of hard paddling probably does the trick.

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck, Histrionicus histrionicus. I saw a pair of Harlequin Ducks in the Prince William Sound (Alaska). We had hiked up along the steep mossy banks of a rapidly flowing, cold river, surrounded by huge, lichen-covered conifers. At the top of the rise, there was a placid, icy lake obscured by a thin, wispy coating of white mist that danced in the light breeze. There, on the far side of the lake, under the cover of some waterside shrubs was a pair of Harlequin Ducks. I could see their bold markings and steely grey and red-brown plumage from across the lake. They paddled idly in the still water, far out of reach of everything but the camera and remained small in my sight, even then. They seemed to have not a care in the world and for a moment, neither did I.