Tim Melling – Harlequins

Tim writes: I think Harlequins are one of the most beautiful ducks in the world.  They breed in Iceland, Greenland, northern North America and eastern Asia.  These two were floating in the surf off the Vancouver Island coast.  I have always found them to be quite unapproachable, which might explain their scientific name (Histrionicus histrionicus), although it also means theatrical as Histrio is a harlequin or actor.  So it was named “Histrionicus” after its Harlequin-like plumage rather than its skittish behaviour.

These are both males but the top one is in full breeding plumage whereas the lower one is in eclipse plumage.  Ducks are quite unusual in that they moult all of their flight feathers at once, so for a while they are flightless.  Before they moult the flight feathers male ducks undergo a body moult into a subdued often female-like form known as eclipse plumage.  This makes them less conspicuous to predators when they are least able to escape.  Once they have new flight feathers they moult back into breeding plumage.

Taken with Nikon D500 and Nikkor 300mm f4 lens with a 1.4x converter at f5.6 ISO 400 1/1250s

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