Long-Tailed Duck of the UK and Ireland
The Long-Tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) is a migratory diving duck (from mostly Greenland, Iceland and Russia) which lives along the coast of Britain and Ireland during the winter.
The main characteristic of the drake is a long, pointed tail to two fine points. The female has a much shorter tail. During the winter months the head and neck of the male is white with a dark patch on the cheek as well as a dark breast and white body. In the summer, the male has a dark head, neck and back with a white cheek patch. The plumage of the female is browner with a white head (with a dark crown) and neck during the winter. The head is dark in summer.
The average lifespan of the Long-Tailed Duck is 15.3 years. The oldest recorded was 22 years of age. Adults breed when they are approximately 2 years of age.
The Long-Tailed Duck is a gregarious duck in winter, often forming large flocks on rocky coasts and inland in places such as lakes and marshes.
Their diet includes freshwater and salt water shellfish, seed, grain, eggs, freshwater insects and larvae, fish and many kinds of plankton which they dive for.
These Ducks forage longer than other Ducks (up to 80% of the day) and will hunt for food quite far from the shore. They are one of the deepest diving ducks and can dive up to 60 meters (200 feet) for food.
The natural predators of the Long-Tailed Ducks are foxes and gulls, such as mew gulls.
Long-Tailed Ducks do not breed in Britain and Ireland. Breeding areas in Europe are restricted to the Arctic Circle, Scandinavia and Russia.
Britain holds internationally significant numbers of wintering Long-Tailed Ducks. Long-Tailed Ducks winter mostly in northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland with fewer in the northern areas of Ireland (RSPB Handbook of British Birds). A rapid decline has been noted in key sites such as Moray Firth where the population "crashed" in 2007/8.
The global population is considered Vulnerable by conservationists (such as Birdlife International) due to a severe decline since the 1990s. The population in the Baltic Sea, where the majority of the global population winters, has declined by 65% in 16 years. It is estimated one million Long-Tailed Duck "mysteriously disappeared" in the Baltic region in the past two decades.
The Long-Tailed Duck was classified as Vulnerable by IUCN in 2012.
The populations in Britian and Ireland are similarly affected although the most rapid decline in their numbers have occurred in the Baltic. The Long-Tailed Duck is green listed in the UK and Ireland. Conservationists in Britain are of the opinion these Ducks face an uncertain future (Daily Express).
The exact reason for the decline is unknown but includes susceptibility to oil pollution, fishing nets, poisoning from lead and mercury, loss of habitat, avian flu, hunting in areas such as Denmark and offshore wind farm development.
