Photo of the Week: Harlequin Duck

A small dark brown and blue duck with white bill, white spot behind the eye, and vertical white band along the back of the head swims slowly in the river, near the shoreline with tangled branches in the background.

What a surprise my friends Donna and Bill had when they learned the small dark duck they saw at a nearby inland lake was a Harlequin Duck.

A sea duck typically seen in northwest North America, Greenland, and eastern Canada, the Harlequin Duck winters along the coast of Atlantic Canada and New England as well as the Pacific Northwest coast.

The Harlequin Duck my friends found is a rare bird for southeast Michigan and the first time the bird was sighted in Washtenaw County.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: Harlequin Duck