Harlequin Duck, Milford, CT, December, 2013

You would think that Harlequin Duck would be a pretty easy bird in CT.  After all, CT is a New England state with significant coastline.  Not to mention that perhaps the best place to see Harlequins in New England is in RI at Sachuest Point just a few miles from the CT state line.  But much of the CT coastline is sandy rather than rocky which is the preferred habitat for Harlequins.  Plus the CT coast is protected by Long Island, so birds heading south down the coast to winter in NJ and points south are not very likely to make stops along CT on their journey.  And a further complication is that most of the coastal sightings are of birds that don’t stay long.  As a result, this colorful duck is quite difficult in CT; in fact very difficult particularly for an out-of-state birder.  I’ve unsuccessfully chased after two different CT birds over the years – one on the coast and one long-staying bird on an inland river where I arrived the day after it departed.  And I’ve seen Harlequin in each New England state except CT – yes I’ve even seen it in inland VT.  So needless to say this is a key target for me.

Now we move forward to 2013 and Christmas Bird Count season.  As the sightings started to be posted on the listserves a post came across of a female Harlequin Duck seen on the Milford CBC at Merwin Point, first spotted in the morning and then seen again at the same spot late in the day, despite a significant ice and snow storm.  The next day, the bird was seen by several birders, though the last posted sighting of the day was a short distance to the west near Sloppy Jose’s restaurant.  My drive time to Milford is a bit more than my normal maximum distance for chasing after rarities.  But since this bird was likely to stick around, and a key target, I decided to give it a try. 

The following morning I headed out, arriving at Merwin Point a bit after 10.  This location featured a number of small rocky islands just offshore, and several man-made jetties, so quite a bit of habitat for a Harlequin.  But despite several scans, I couldn’t find the target bird.  The closest I could find was a male White-winged Scoter.  I wondered if the Harlequin could be hiding out on the back side of some of the islands, but despite looking from several locations, I couldn’t get views of the southern sides of those islands.  I was about to head to the west where it was seen late the previous day when I noticed a group of 5 small ducks at the point, diving frequently.  Unfortunately they were Greater Scaup.  But where had they been on my previous scans of the area?  Thinking that maybe the Harlequin would appear in the same way, I scanned the area again but with no luck.

My next stop was Sloppy Jose’s restaurant.  The restaurant was easy enough to find, and I parked in the restaurant's parking lot successfully avoiding the snow and ice piles.  The problem was the restaurant was a block from the water with no access or view of the Sound.  Instead, the shoreline was hidden behind numerous waterfront houses.  How would I get views of the water?  The birder that found the Harlequin from this area yesterday must have figured it out.  So I started walking along the road to look for gaps between the houses.  Eventually I found a vacant lot with a view of the water, so I set up the scope and began to scan the water and coastline.  But no luck – a few Canada Geese and some Mallards and Black Ducks were close to shore, some Long-tailed Ducks and Red-breasted Mergs were farther out, and in the distance I could see the same 5 Greater Scaup I had spotted earlier.  But no Harlequin.  Yet another scan and still no target.  What next?  Could the bird be moving to the west from its initial location?  Should I drive to west to look for additional rocky habitat?  But before I left, I tried one more scan, and there it was – amazing, right in the middle of the cove that I hadscanned at least a dozen times earlier.  The bird was diving frequently, so it’s possible but unlikely that it could have been under the water on each of my earlier scans.  Maybe it just appeared, like the Scaup earlier.  In any case, I found the bird after about an hour of searching.  I always say that the best search is one you have to spend some time working for, instead of one you just drive up to and see.  So this statebird was quite satisfying indeed.

Harlequin Duck was number #308 for me in CT, New England statebird #1954, and #223 for me in all 6 New England states.  I’ve now seen Harlequins in each Atlantic coast state south to VA, all 4 Pacific coast states, as well as in WI and VT as inland states (see my statebird map below).