Many years ago, I was doing fieldwork for my Ph.D. research in Olympic National Park on the west coast of Washington State.

I spent a glorious summer backpacking around in the park's backcountry wilderness, from the low-elevation temperate rainforest to the subalpine zone high in the mountains.

And I spent a lot of time hiking and exploring along the banks of streams and rivers.

Now, I wasn't a diehard birder back then, so I was kind of surprised one day when I was

chilling on the bank of a fast-flowing mountain stream, and I saw a small

group of ducks floating along. I didn't think that such rushing cold water would make for good

duck habitat. But after consulting my field guide, I figured out that these birds were harlequin

ducks, and they were perfectly at home in this environment. Now, if you've never seen were harlequin ducks, and they were perfectly at home in this

environment. Now, if you've never seen a harlequin duck, you have my condolences. I'm so sorry,

because this is a beautiful creature, and I got to tell you you've been missing out. The male

harlequin duck has a striking slate blue body with bold white stripes and spots, and those are outlined in black.

It also has bright reddish-brown sides and a colorful streak of that same color on top of its head.

Harlequin ducks breed in upland streams and rivers.

They're excellent swimmers that can motor around easily in the rapids.

And these are diving ducks, so they dive down to the river bottom to snatch up aquatic insects

from among the cobbles and boulders. So I first fell in love with this species along the rivers

of the Olympic Mountains, and I've seen them in streams here and there

in North America and beyond. For example, I had a great time watching a female harlequin duck with her

little brood in a beautiful Icelandic river. She was teaching her fuzzy ducklings how to navigate

some small waterfalls. The cute little buggers were like wind-up bath toys, bobbing along with their

mom. The harlequin duck is a specialist species that is well adapted for life in a fast-flowing

stream or river. At least during the breeding season. In winter, these ducks use a different habitat.

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