The female Harlequin Duck raises the young one. The chicks hatch within a few hours of one another. The young ones are able to swim and feed on their own soon after they are hatched. Picture 4 — Harlequin Duck Photo. Picture 5 — Harlequin Duck Picture. I live in Neuziders, Nr. Bludenz in the Voralburg district of Austria, we walk our Border Terrier dog around a local fishing lake most days, the lake has a mixture of common ducks Malards etc. Your email address will not be published. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Harlequin Duck. Related Articles Comments Hawk. Marabou Stork. Great Potoo. Common Potoo. Jim Mulholland says:. February 15, at pm. They have a variety of unique colour morphs, or genetic colour variations. They can be different shades of green and brown with rounded black spots across its back and legs and can even appear with no spots at all known as a burnsi morph.
They have white bellies and two light coloured dorsal back ridges. Another pale line travels underneath the nostril, eye and tympanum, ending at the shoulder. The tympanum is an external hearing structure just behind and below the eye that looks like a small disk. Black pupils and golden irises make up their eyes.
They are often confused with Pickerel Frogs Lithobates palustris ; whose spots are more squared then rounded and have a yellowish underbelly.
Male frogs are typically smaller than the females. Their average life span is two to four years in the wild, but up to nine years in captivity. Tadpoles are dark brown with tan tails. Lampreys are an amazing group of ancient fish species which first appeared around million years ago. This means they evolved millions of years before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. There are about 39 species of lamprey currently described plus some additional landlocked populations and varieties.
In general, lamprey are one of three different life history types and are a combination of non-parasitic and parasitic species. Non-parasitic lamprey feed on organic material and detritus in the water column. Parasitic lamprey attach to other fish species to feed on their blood and tissues. Most, 22 of the 39 species, are non-parasitic and spend their entire lives in freshwater.
The remainder are either parasitic spending their whole life in freshwater or, parasitic and anadromous. Anadromous parasitic lampreys grow in freshwater before migrating to the sea where they feed parasitically and then migrate back to freshwater to spawn. The Cowichan Lake lamprey Entosphenus macrostomus is a freshwater parasitic lamprey species. It has a worm or eel-like shape with two distinct dorsal fins and a small tail. It is a slender fish reaching a maximum length of about mm. When they are getting ready to spawn they shrink in length and their dorsal fins overlap.
Unlike many other fish species, when lampreys are getting ready to spawn you can tell the difference between males and females. Females develop fleshy folds on either side of their cloaca and an upturned tail. The males have a downturned tail and no fleshy folds. These seven gill pores are located one after another behind the eye. There are several characteristics which are normally used to identify lamprey.
Many of these are based on morphometrics or measurements, of or between various body parts like width of the eye or, distance between the eye and the snout. Other identifying characteristics include body colour and the number and type of teeth. Some distinguishing characteristics of this species are the large mouth, called and oral disc and a large eye.
This species also has unique dentition. For example, these teeth are called inner laterals. Each lateral tooth has cusps and together they always occur in a cusp pattern.
At the same time, the Sea Otter is the largest member of its family, the mustelids, which includes River Otters, weasels, badgers, wolverines and martens. It may come to land to flee from predators if needed, but the rest of its time is spent in the ocean. It varies in colour from rust to black. Unlike seals and sea lions, the Sea Otter has little body fat to help it survive in the cold ocean water. Instead, it has both guard hairs and a warm undercoat that trap bubbles of air to help insulate it.
The otter is often seen at the surface grooming; in fact, it is pushing air to the roots of its fur. Mollusks are invertebrates, meaning they have no bones. They are cold-blooded, like all invertebrates, and have blue, copper-based blood. The octopus is soft-bodied, but it has a very small shell made of two plates in its head and a powerful, parrot-like beak.
The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest species of octopus in the world. Specimens have weighed as much as kg and measured 9. Studies determined, though, that they are indeed different. While the Western Chorus Frog might have slightly shorter legs than the Boreal Chorus Frog, and that their respective calls have different structures, genetics have proven this. Chorus Frogs are about the size of large grape, about 2.
They are pear-shaped, with a large body compared to their pointed snout. Their smooth although a bit granular skin varies in colour from green-grey to brownish. They are two of our smallest frogs, but best ways to tell them apart from other frogs is by the three dark stripes down their backs, which can be broken into blotches, by their white upper lip, and by the dark line that runs through each eye. Their belly is generally yellow-white to light green. Males are slightly smaller than females, but the surest way to tell sexes apart is by the fact that only males call and can inflate their yellow vocal sacs.
Adults tend to live only for one year, but some have lived as many as three years. Their tadpoles the life stage between the egg and the adult are grey or brown. Their body is round with a clear tail. The Common Raven Corvus corax is one of the heaviest passerine birds and the largest of all the songbirds. It is easily recognizable because of its size between 54 and 67 centimetres long, with a wingspan of to cm, and weighing between 0.
It has a ruff of feathers on the throat, which are called 'hackles', and a wide, robust bill. When in flight, it has a wedge-shaped tail, with longer feathers in the middle. While females may be a bit smaller, both sexes are very similar. The size of an adult raven may also vary according to its habitat, as subspecies from colder areas are often larger. A raven may live up to 21 years in the wild, making it one of the species with the longest lifespan in all passerine birds.
Both birds are from the same genus order of passerine birds, corvid family —like jays, magpies and nutcrackers, Corvus genus and have a similar colouring. But the American Crow is smaller with a wingspan of about 75 cm and has a fan-shaped tail when in flight with no longer feathers. Their cries are different: the raven produces a low croaking sound, while the crow has a higher pitched cawing cry. While adult ravens tend to live alone or in pairs, crows are more often observed in larger groups.
The Atlantic Cod Gadus morhua is a medium to large saltwater fish: generally averaging two to three kilograms in weight and about 65 to centimetres in length, the largest cod on record weighed about kg and was more than cm long! Individuals living closer to shore tend to be smaller than their offshore relatives, but male and female cod are not different in size, wherever they live.
The Atlantic Cod shares some of its physical features with the two other species of its genus, or group of species, named Gadus. The Pacific Cod and Alaska Pollock also have three rounded dorsal fins and two anal fins.
They also have small pelvic fins right under their gills, and barbels or whiskers on their chins. Both Pacific and Atlantic Cod have a white line on each side of their bodies from the gills to their tails, or pectoral fins.
This line is actually a sensory organ that helps fish detect vibrations in the water. The colour of an Atlantic Cod is often darker on its top than on its belly, which is silver, white or cream-coloured. In rocky areas, a cod may be a darker brown colour. Cod are often mottled, or have a lot of darker blotches or spots. It can weigh up to 63, kilograms and measure up to 16 metres.
Females tend to be a bit larger than males — measuring, on average, one metre longer. Its head makes up about a fourth of its body length, and its mouth is characterized by its arched, or highly curved, jaw.
Its skin is otherwise smooth and black, but some individuals have white patches on their bellies and chin. It has large, triangular flippers, or pectoral fins.
Its tail, also called flukes or caudal fins, is broad six m wide from tip to tip! Unlike most other large whales, it has no dorsal fin. For a variety of reasons, including its rarity, scientists know very little about this rather large animal. For example, there is little data on the longevity of Right Whales, but photo identification on living whales and the analysis of ear bones and eyes on dead individuals can be used to estimate age.
It is believed that they live at least 70 years, maybe even over years, since closely related species can live as long. Unique characteristics. The Right Whale has a bit of an unusual name. Its name in French is more straightforward; baleine noire, the black whale. The American Eel Anguilla rostrata is a fascinating migratory fish with a very complex life cycle.
Like salmon, it lives both in freshwater and saltwater. It is born in saltwater and migrating to freshwater to grow and mature before returning to saltwater to spawn and die. The American Eel can live as long as 50 years. They are most common along the outer coast of Whidbey Island. In summer, they can sometimes be seen along the gravel bars of the Methow River south of Winthrop Okanogan County. Click here to visit this species' account and breeding-season distribution map in Sound to Sage , Seattle Audubon's on-line breeding bird atlas of Island, King, Kitsap, and Kittitas Counties.
If you find the information on BirdWeb useful, please consider supporting Seattle Audubon. Support Seattle Audubon. Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus. Order: Anseriformes The swans, geese and ducks are mid-sized to large birds most commonly found on or near water. Most have plump bodies, long necks and short wings. Most feed while on the water, diving or merely tilting their bodies so that their heads and necks are submerged to search for fish, plants and invertebrates.
Washington representatives of the order all belong to one family:. Family: Anatidae The waterfowl family is represented in Washington by two distinct groups—the geese and swans, and the ducks. Whistling-ducks are also considered a distinct subfamily, and, although they have not been sighted in Washington in many years, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks have been recorded historically in Washington and remain on the official state checklist.
All members of the waterfowl family have large clutches of precocial young. They hatch covered in down and can swim and eat on their own almost immediately after hatching. Listen Source of Bird Audio. They also breed in Greenland and Iceland. Alderfer, ; "Harlequin Duck", ; John and John, Harlequin ducks live along fast flowing streams and rivers in rocky terrain with plenty of vegetation, such as trees, during breeding season in the summer. The offspring cannot be seen very well in this type of terrain.
During summer they can be found as high as meters above sea level. In wintering locations they feed and rest in shallow shore waters, along rocky coastlines. Alderfer, ; Ehrlich, et al. Harlequin ducks are between Males have blue-grey bodies with chestnut flanks and distinctive white patches on the head and body. These white patches are outlined with black. In flight males show white on their wings with a metallic blue speculum.
Females are dusky brown with two or three whitish patches on the sides of the face. Females do not have any white on their wings in flight and do not have a speculum. However, when this species molts it is hard to distinguish between males and females. When a female is looking for a mate, one characteristic that is looked for is bright plumage, indicating sexual selection in this sexually dichromatic species. Nice plumage is seen as a sign of good health.
A female duck wants to choose a mate that will be able to protect her from other males during the mating season. Plumage of males is affected by age and the time of their last molt. Males also perform courtship dances to attract females. They will often shake their heads and tails while making a whistling noise when they are around females. They may also make short, ritualistic flights close to the water surface.
Ehrlich, et al. Harlequin ducks choose their mates beginning around October. Breeding begins in May and June. Harlequin ducks are seasonally monogamous, with pairs forming for a single breeding season. Females lay from 5 to 8 eggs, which hatch after 27 to 29 days.
Young fledge and become independent by 70 days old. Breeding success for both males and females remains low until the age of 5, even though they become sexually mature at around 2 years old. Females invest heavily in raising their offspring. Males participate in nest building. Once a female begins to incubate the eggs, the male leaves and migrates back to the ocean to undergo the annual molt.
Females incubate eggs with her down feathers and through the development of a brood patch, where she loses feathers. This way, not only are the down feathers heating the eggs, but when she is on the nest her bare skin will be directly on the eggs transferring her body heat efficiently.
0コメント