Quick Take
Throngs of birdwatchers have gathered at the Santa Cruz Harbor to catch a glimpse of a female harlequin duck, which is rarely spotted this far south, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A rare duck not seen in the Santa Cruz area for nearly a decade caused a frenzy among bird enthusiasts recently.
A throng of birdwatchers gathered at the Santa Cruz Harbor to see a female harlequin duck as she bobbed around the harbor, staying close to the rocks.
More than 60 birders posted observations of her on a bird sighting database, eBird, between Nov. 14 and Nov. 19 — a flurry of excitement spurred by the infrequency of sightings of this northern species in Santa Cruz. A second harlequin duck, this one a young male, was spotted riding the surf with a group of surf scoters (another seafaring duck species) between Sunny Cove and Corcoran Beach late last month, generating another burst of eBird posts that brought the total to 94 recorded sightings of just these two birds last month. These sightings are the first in Santa Cruz since 2014.
The harlequin duck is a small waterfowl with distinct white markings that lives in rough northern waters. The species is named for the bright outfit worn by a clown in traditional Italian pantomime. Males have a pattern of the slate blue and russet feathers with striking white spots and stripes. The female duck spotted at the harbor is more drab than its colorful male counterpart but sports the same white facial markings.
John Haynes, senior deputy harbormaster, first noticed the odd duck swimming around the boat launch Nov. 12.
“I recognized it as a bird I didn’t recognize, and then a bunch of birders showed up,” Haynes said.
Many onlookers photographed the female catching countless crabs. Lisa Fay Larson, editor for the Santa Cruz Bird Club, followed the duck around the harbor for a couple of hours. “She was just preening herself and then she started to hunt for crabs,” Larson said. “She sure has quite the smorgasbord right there and she’s loving it.”
The global harlequin duck population is estimated at 190,000 or more ducks, according to BirdLife International. While the Northwest population is considered stable, the population on the East Coast is declining. There is scant information about historical populations on the West Coast, and ornithologists believe they were once much more numerous.
Harlequin ducks spend the winter fattening up on the Pacific coast from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Northern California. They migrate inland along fast-moving streams to breed in the spring. Due to a lifetime spent on rocky shorelines and whitewater streams, this species is said to sustain more fractured bones than any other bird.
It is rare to see these birds wintering on the coast this far south, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. However, birders have recorded this duck traveling as far south as Baja California since the 1980s.
“They aren’t common at all, I’d consider them a rare yet somewhat regular winter coastal visitor,” Shawn Wagoner, vice president of the Monterey Audubon Society, wrote in a text message.
Harlequin ducks are more commonly seen around the Monterey Peninsula than in Santa Cruz, according to eBird data. Wagoner says the ones he’s seen have been in the Monterey Harbor along the rocks.
While Larson says she can’t tell whether the female duck is young or mature, she noted that it’s often immature birds that fly off course to regions where they are an uncommon sight.
“Usually the rarities are young birds who are lost — storms could have blown them off course if they’ve never done the migration before.” Larson said. “These lost birds are exciting for birders because otherwise we’d never see them.”
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