I photographed this long-tailed duck this afternoon at Sunset Park. As you can see from the range map, it is a little bit out of its range! However, the bird book I use (The Sibley Guide to Birds), shows it to winter along both coasts down to the Carolinas and central California so it really isn’t too far off. Sibley also says it isn’t unusual for individual long-tailed ducks to spend winters inland across the country. This duck is known for its deep dives and has been known to dive as deep as 200 feet. At the park, it was spending a few seconds on the surface and about a minute underwater.

And it was easy to find. All I had to do was find the guy with the binoculars and camera and look where he was looking. It’s been quite the attraction of the local birding community for the last week or so.