Long-tailed Duck and Chasing Rarities

The winter months in the California Bay Area are definitely Weird Duck Time.

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It's a great season to go out and see all the seasonal migrators. We even have our share of unusual visitors. Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland is well known for the occasional Tufted Duck (which I was lucky enough to see without knowing what a big deal it was). This winter I heard about a different unusual duck, a Long-tailed Duck who had somehow ended up at Point Reyes. These hearty and striking ducks breed in the high arctic and winter along the cold northern coasts. Usually on the west coast they don't make it down past Seattle.

There's only been a handful of times I've made an effort to see an uncommon or rare bird in an area, and most of the time this has been a local species that isn't particularly hard to see, just rare overall. Our Berkeley shoreline Burrowing Owls come to mind, or the Island Scrub Jay. They're just... there. And not many other places. But this was different. The bird clearly ended up somewhere it wasn't meant to be, and had become a target of at least some minor local birding interest. 

So obviously I went to see it. I mean, this was before the Snowy Owl in Central Park turned the birding world's attention towards the ethics of chasing rare or misplaced birds. I did feel a little strange about it, in ways that would predict the debate to come. For one, it was in the peak coronavirus month of December, and for two, I was concerned that increased attention from birders could be bad for the bird, or bad for the park. But I love Point Reyes, and I resolved that if things looked crowded, I just wouldn't bother when I got there. As you can see, the expedition was somewhat of a success. I say somewhat because the duck wasn't as cool looking as maybe you would hope when you look up pictures of Long-tailed Ducks, and because even with the substantial zoom on my camera, this was as close as I could reasonably get.

I was a little concerned about what others might do to get a better shot, and my view of the steep, sandy dunes that ringed this lagoon indicated that quite a few people had slid down the banks. Perhaps to look for the duck, but maybe it's just a popular park anyway. I would say that foot traffic was increased, and I would guess that perhaps a third of the hikers I saw gave me "birder vibes" or were openly just scouting around for the duck with their giant cameras. I didn't see any bad behavior, except, maybe, for some dubious mask usage. There was plenty of space, and no one seemed to be crowding the animals while I was there. 

But it did make me consider, you know, the implications. If this duck weren't at the end of a few miles of trail, in a park that's popular, but requires the commitment of a day trip to get to, perhaps the situation would've been different. As it is, I do think it's worth some personal reflection on the part of the birder when a rarity is nearby with potential to be hunted. Have I ever seen this bird before? Could I theoretically see it closer to it's normal range? Can the bird be observed without disturbing it, or the nature surrounding it? Basically, Is it worth it? I'm not sure the answer is going to be yes for me very often. After all, there are still plenty of birds that I could try to find without feeling dubiously unethical about it. I'm coming for you Pileated Woodpecker.

Long-tailed Duck aka, Olds**** (you can read up here about why this bird's name is not a slur anymore. Seems like maybe there's a lot of birds whose names we should change, perhaps)
Abbotts Lagoon, Point Reyes National Seashore, Inverness, California, USA
December 2020
Member of the Ducks, Geese, and Swans Family
§A Flush of Ducks§

~True Bird Fact~ An extraordinarily hearty and skilled diver- not only do they mostly dive in icy waters, but they are the only species of duck to use their wings to 'fly' underwater. This enables them to dive to extraordinary depths of 200-480 feet. They also stay underwater longer than any other diving duck, spending 3-4 times the amount of time below water as above when feeding.

Post-script: The duck appears to have moved on from Point Reyes- the last sighting recorded was on February 6th, after a long stretch of being pretty easy to see there. So just in case this blog made you feel like going to look for the duck, don't. There have been reports lately of a Tufted Duck in Point Reyes, but I will not be going after it.