Also known as: Painted Duck, Totem Pole Duck, Rock Duck, Sea Mouse, Glacier Duck, Mountain Duck, White-eyed Diver, Squeaker, Blue Streak
The Harlequin Duck is a very beautiful species of sea duck found along coastal waters across North America and eastern Asia. They prefer fast-moving water and breed near fast-flowing streams.
Male Harlequin Ducks have a striking plumage of slate blue, white, and chestnut. They get their name from the colorful masked character Harlequin from an Italian style of improvisational comedy theater.
Harlequin Ducks feed by diving for marine invertebrates, fish, and aquatic insects. They may also feed by dabbling.
Conservation
The Harlequin Duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2015 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.