The Long-tailed Duck is a hardy, boldly patterned sea duck of the Arctic that winters on the deep, cold open waters of the Great Lakes, where it is one of the most striking cold-season waterfowl. Its plumage is a shifting mix of black, white, and gray that changes markedly through the year, and the drake sports a pair of long, elegant needle-like central tail feathers. Flocks are lively and vocal, giving a yodeling, musical "ow-owdle-ow" call that carries over the water — an old name for the bird, "oldsquaw," referred to this constant chatter.
Long-tailed Ducks are extraordinary divers, regularly reaching depths of a hundred feet or more — deeper than almost any other duck — to feed on mollusks and crustaceans on the lake bottom, and they use their wings as well as their feet to "fly" underwater. They breed on the high Arctic tundra and come south to winter on the Great Lakes, where large rafts gather offshore. The species has declined and is now assessed as Vulnerable, a reminder that even abundant-looking winter flocks can mask larger conservation concerns.
Dives deep — often 60 feet or more, sometimes over 100 — to feed on mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic insects, and small fish on the lake bottom, using its wings to help propel itself underwater. On the Great Lakes it feeds heavily on small mollusks and invertebrates in deep, cold water.
Remarkably deep — regularly to 60 feet or more and sometimes beyond 100 feet, deeper than almost any other duck. It uses its wings as well as its feet to swim underwater in pursuit of bottom prey.
In winter, roughly late fall through early spring, on the deep open water of the Great Lakes and large lakes. It breeds on the Arctic tundra and comes south only in the cold season.
Despite forming large winter rafts, the Long-tailed Duck has declined and is now assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, so the seemingly abundant flocks reflect a species that has lost substantial numbers overall.
They have one of the most complicated molt schedules of any duck, cycling through three distinguishable plumages a year. Michigan's winter birds show the pale-headed 'winter' look with the dark cheek patch; young males lack the long tail streamers.
A raft. Long-tailed Duck rafts on the Great Lakes can be enormous and remarkably far offshore, and their yodeling calls carry across open water on calm days.
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