Yesterday I posted a drake Long-tailed duck taking off with his wings up, so today you get the photograph of the wings down. An interesting note was passed along to me by a birding friend. I used the term ‘breeding’ in describing the winter, non-breeding, plumage of the Long-tailed. I got that information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website ( a great place for bird info) which say about the Long-tailed, “Unlike other waterfowl, the Long-tailed Duck wears its “breeding” or Alternate Plumage only in the winter. It gets its “nonbreeding” or Basic Plumage in the spring and wears it for the breeding season. Most other ducks wear the nonbreeding plumage only for a short period in the late summer.” It is an interesting and beautiful duck and can be seen in Delaware very commonly in Indian River Inlet in the winter. The long tail feathers are better seen as he hops out of the water in this photograph.
