A first in the wild on the South Coast for me today. A Long-Tailed Duck in Southampton Water off Hill Head today.
The Long-tailed Duck is a winter visitor to UK coastal waters, arriving from their arctic breeding grounds. The majority of these wintering birds in the UK are seen in the north, around Shetland, Orkney, and northeast Scotland. Smaller numbers are found further south along England’s east coast.
These sea ducks were formerly known as the “Oldsquaw” .
Continued Reflections from my World. 
Fascinating ducks! The coloring is nice on its body and face.
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I saw one of these a few years ago here in SE Michigan. It was alone and the Wildlife Refuge marveled that it was here and in the Winter no less. Its black-and-white markings were unusual but unfortunately it did not have the long tail yet as it was a juvenile. I saw the post about it being at the Refuge, so I went the next day … it was still there, so I felt lucky to have seen it.
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Andy, if you scroll almost to the bottom of this post (my recap of the year before), you’ll see the juvenile long-tailed duck.
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thanks for the link remind Linda mine was like yours without the long tail.
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Yes, pretty amazing with the long tail wasn’t it? We’re lucky we saw the juvenile at least – maybe we see the adult too … finger crossed.!
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