Long-tailed duck
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Long-tailed duck | |
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Non-breeding male | |
Female | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Clangula Leach, 1819 |
Species: | C. hyemalis
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Binomial name | |
Clangula hyemalis | |
Synonyms | |
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The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) or coween,
Taxonomy
The long-tailed duck was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas hyemalis.[3] Linnaeus cited the English naturalist George Edwards's description and illustration of the "Long-tailed duck from Hudson's-Bay" that had been published in 1750 in the third volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds.[4]
This duck is now the only species placed in the genus Clangula; the genus was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist
In
An undescribed
Distribution
Long-tailed ducks breed on
In winter, they are found on and near large bodies of seawater, such as the
Description
Adults have white underparts, though the rest of the plumage goes through a complex moulting process. The male has a long pointed tail (10 to 15 cm (3.9 to 5.9 in) long) and a dark grey bill crossed by a pink band. In winter, the male has a dark cheek patch on a mainly white head and neck, a dark breast and mostly white body. In summer, the male is dark on the head, neck and back with a white cheek patch. The female has a brown back and a relatively short pointed tail. In winter, the female's head and neck are white with a dark crown. In summer, the head is dark. Juveniles resemble adult females in autumn plumage, though with a lighter, less distinct cheek patch.
Standard Measurements[12][13] | |
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Total Body Length | 440–600 mm (17.5–23.5 in) |
Weight | 740 g (1.63 lb) |
Wingspan | 710 mm (28 in) |
Wing | 209–228 mm (8.2–9.0 in) |
Tail | 165–237 mm (6.5–9.3 in) |
Culmen | 26–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in) |
Tarsus | 34–38 mm (1.3–1.5 in) |
The males are vocal and have a musical yodelling call ow, ow, owal-ow.
Behaviour
Breeding
Their breeding habitat is in tundra pools and marshes, but also along sea coasts and in large mountain lakes in the North Atlantic region, Alaska, northern Canada, northern Europe, and Russia. The nest is located on the ground near water; it is built using vegetation and lined with down. They are migratory and winter along the eastern and western coasts of North America, on the Great Lakes, coastal northern Europe and Asia, with stragglers to the Black Sea. The most important wintering area is the Baltic Sea, where a total of about 4.5 million gather. As of 2022 it has also been breeding in parts of Western Europe, such as on the Marker Wadden in the Netherlands.
Food and feeding
The long-tailed duck is gregarious, forming large flocks in winter and during migration. They feed by diving for
Status
The long-tailed duck is still hunted across a large part of its range. There has been a significant decline in the number of birds wintering in the Baltic Sea, partly due to their susceptibility to being trapped in
Notes
- ^ Though squaw originated as a word simply meaning "young woman" in the Massachusett and related Algonquian languages, it is now considered offensive by many Native Americans and is labelled as such in modern dictionaries.[9]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ "coween". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 126.
- ^ Edwards, George (1750). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Vol. Part III. London: Printed for the author at the College of Physicians. p. 156 Plates 156.
- ^ Leach, William Elford (1819). Ross, John (ed.). A Voyage of Discovery made under the orders of the Admiralty in her Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and enquiring into the probability of a North-West passage. London: John Murray. Appendix II: Zoological Memoranda, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 492.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Screamers, ducks, geese & swans". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ISBN 978-0-06-115301-3.
- .
- ^ Gál, Erika; Hír, János; Kessler, Eugén; Kókay, József (1998–1999). "Középsõ-miocén õsmaradványok, a Mátraszõlõs, Rákóczi-kápolna alatti útbevágásból. I. A Mátraszõlõs 1. lelõhely" [Middle Miocene fossils from the sections at the Rákóczi chapel at Mátraszőlős. Locality Mátraszõlõs I.] (PDF). Folia Historico Naturalia Musei Matraensis (in Hungarian). 23: 33–78. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2007-02-06.
- ^ Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 72.
- ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
- ^ "Species". Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
External links
- "Long-tailed duck media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Long-tailed duck photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Feathers of Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
- Interactive range map of Clangula hyemalis at IUCN Red List maps