Harlequin ducks make ‘accidental’ stop in Q-C

Font Size:

By Alma Gaul | Friday, February 23, 2007 12:23 AM CST | () comments

Brent Langley of Coal Valley, Ill., took this photo of the harlequin ducks at Lock & Dam 14, LeClaire, Iowa. Langley is among birders from the Quad-Cities and beyond who have been drawn to the area to see these “accidental” visitors.(Contributed photo)

LeCLAIRE, Iowa — The Quad-City birding community is abuzz about the rare sighting of two male harlequin ducks that have been spotted for the past week downstream from Lock & Dam 14, LeClaire.

The ducks are called harlequins because of the males’ striking plumage that resembles the colorful costumes worn by harlequins, or medieval court jesters.

“These are such beautiful birds,” said JoAnn Whitmore, a birder from Moline. “If people are interested, they should know about this.”

Harlequins are sea ducks with two populations worldwide. There’s an eastern population that breeds in Greenland and Iceland and winters as far south as the New England states, and a western population that breeds in Siberia across to Canada, through Alaska and as far south as California, according to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game Web site. The ducks prefer swiftly moving mountain streams.

So while harlequins are not rare in their native habitats — even though their populations have declined substantially in recent years — seeing them in the Quad-City area is highly unusual and classified as “accidental.”

That is why people have driven here from Chicago and Rockford, Ill., and Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to see them, Whitmore said. They found out through word of mouth and via the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union Web site. A compiler for the site said harlequins have been documented in Iowa only five times.

Whitmore has enjoyed watching the harlequins dive and catch food, and be chased by geese and other ducks trying to steal it from them. “It reminded me of children on a playground,” she said.

Bill Scheible of Cedar Rapids said he’s seen harlequins “on mountain streams in Oregon and Montana, and … along rocky headlands in Oregon, Washington and Maine, so what they’re doing in this concrete-and-steel environment on the Mississippi is beyond me.”

Kelly McKay, a self-employed biologist from Hampton, Ill., and longtime bird observer, said there are two main explanations for how the birds could have gotten so far off course.

First, they could have become associated with common goldeneye ducks in Alaska so that when the goldeneyes migrated the harlequins came with them. Second — and McKay thinks this is more likely — they could have been swept up in a storm that eventually pushed them to the Midwest.

Most “out-of-place” birds do not find their way back home, he said. But the harlequins have a better-than-normal chance if they once again associate with goldeneyes and migrate back north, he added.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com.