Winter ducks on the Jersey Shore are a great gift of color in this drab environment. Winters are commonly overcast for days (and days and days) but ducks like this merganser, long tail and rudy are worth waiting through summer for! (The long tails are tough to catch. They like open sea. I'll get a better one this year I hope!)
Three of my favorite species! All are so unique.
Something that I learned recently about the Long-tailed Duck - formerly called "Oldsquaw" - is that their non-breeding plumage is actually more striking than their breeding plumage. How unusual is that?!
You have some wonderful opportunities there in New Jersey to photograph these Long-tails while they winter along your coastline. Wish I could be there myself right now!