Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus By:  Amelia Scientific Classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anaitdea Genus: Histrionicus Species: histrionicus

The first animals to soar through the sky were actually insects. Reptiles also caught on to the idea of flying and began to fly, beginning to look like the birds that we have today. The insects that lived in the era of the dinosaurs could only walk on land and in the trees. Throughout time the little insects started to glide in the sky to stay up high from their predators. This produced little pieces of skin between the arms that acted as wings. This is the adaptation that birds have taken from their prehistoric environment. Today birds have wings, feathers, and hollow bones to help them live better in their habitats.

The earliest evidence of birds found on earth was a prehistoric fossil of the Archaeopteryx found in 1861. No one really knows how this bird became extinct but whatever caused the dinosaurs to die out caused the Archaeopteryx to die out also.

Over time the ancient Archaeopteryx evolved into 8,500 different species of birds. One evolution that all birds share is gizzards, which help them grind up their food so they can digest it. All birds are warm-blooded. One evolution that all ducks share is webbed feet for swimming. The harlequin duck has big webbed feet because it needs to be able to swim really well in the habitat in which it lives. Those are just some examples of how birds have changed through the years to meet their needs in the natural world that surrounds them.

Habitat

The harlequin duck lives in many different habitats around the world. One thing all the habitats share is a rocky shoreline, because when harlequin ducks get tired of swimming they like to stand on the rocks.

The harlequin ducks are never far from the freezing streams and rivers in which they live. They like fast moving rough waters such as some in Ogunquit in York County, where some harlequin ducks were recently seen. You may also see them in parts of Canada.

The harlequin duck tends to stay with its own population and avoids its predators such as the gray wolf and the Arctic fox. Staying away from the gray wolf and Arctic fox is a hard thing to do for they all live in the same community. Each animal plays a certain part in its community. This is called a niche. The harlequin duck’s niche with the gray wolf and Arctic fox is with the food chain because the harlequin duck’s predators try to eat them.

Present Status

The harlequin duck is threatened in Maine.

Physical Description

The harlequin duck is a very small duck, (12-15 in. in length). In nature, male animals are usually more attractive than female animals and harlequins are no exception. They wear many different colors such as white, black, and auburn on their feathers, which is why they got their name “harlequin” from the Italian jesters that wore very colorful outfits.

From afar the males look like a grayish brown color and are confused a lot for other sea ducks. But up close they are actually a blue-gray color on their body with auburn colored splotches on the wings and head, with patches of white on the head and body. They also have very big feet and big toes so they can stand on the rocks well and be able to swim well. The females and the young harlequins are a dusky-brown color with white patches on the side of their face, which is the only way to identify them. They have brown spots on the stomach, and the females also have big feet for the same reasons as the male harlequins. All harlequin ducks have little black beady eyes, with a wingspan for both males and females of 2.6 ft.

Diet

The harlequin duck is a carnivore with a very wide range of different foods, and all of them are invertebrates. They include the larvae of caddis-flies, black flies, and mayflies. They also eat shrimp, small crabs, and fish. Since all of the animals that the harlequin duck eats are organisms, it makes the harlequin duck a consumer.

To get this food they dive under the water (3-7 ft.) and they can stay under water for 15-18 seconds. They do this repeatedly until they get what they are looking for. In the winter time they will usually search for food in flocks because they want to keep a circle going when they are searching for the food so their prey won’t escape.

In the times that the harlequin ducks are migrating (winter, spring) their diet changes from insect larva to fish and crabs because there are more of them in the Canadian oceans where they migrate.

What’s Being Done to Help?

Some of the reasons the harlequin duck is a threatened species are because of oil spills and hunting. But another important reason is that where it breeds there is access for humans and low flying military planes which give off loud noises that irritate the birds and they also let out oil. This creates pollution of the air and water.

To help the harlequin duck come off the threatened species list people are asking hunters to be more careful when hunting and if you do kill an endangered species you will be fined money. People are also asking to not have any oil and chemical spills in the Atlantic Canadian waters, which is where the harlequins migrate to and from Maine during the winter and spring.

It is very hard to help these animals because they are hard to find. Environmentalists are worried that they could take a step up from threatened to endangered, or even extinct.

Personal Essay

Question: What is the value of wilderness to modern society?

Why would anyone want to harm such a cute duck? This is a question I ask myself and others do, too. The harlequin duck makes the world look nicer. It is a very small duck with many beautiful colors on its body, but its beauty is not the only asset to the world. It also keeps the food chain working. I am not saying that if the harlequin duck does become extinct the food chain will fall apart, but a part of it will.

If these animals start disappearing from earth our world will start turning ugly. We need to keep better care of the threatened animals so that this doesn’t happen. The Endangered Species Act should be put into action in all the states instead of just some. Maine happens to be one of the few states that do use the Endangered Species Act which has helped preserve many endangered species, but not enough.

People should start looking after their trash because 1 million sea birds and 100,000 marine animals are killed by trash every year. People should try to be more careful when boating to not let oil out. Oil and hunting has been killing the harlequin duck making the population of them decrease a lot.

To help stop extinction scientists are now cloning animals. They recently cloned a Banteng calf in Iowa. There were only 800 left on the island of Java in Asia and since the cloning was a success they think the Banteng cows will not become extinct even though they were very close. This is another way to stop animals from endangerment. I agree with cloning animals but only if they are close to extinction. I think cloning people is different though. We don’t need to clone humans because there are plenty of us on earth now; it is a waste of time.

Bibliography:

Internet Websites:

1. Histrionicus histrionicus. July 29,1997. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu. (February 25, 2003.)

2. Harlequin Duck. May 15, 2002. www.cws-scf.ec.ca. (February 28,2003.)

3. Harlequin Duck. March 29, 2002. www.sate.ak.us. (March 15, 2003.)

4. Harlequin Duck. July 15, 2002. www.atl.ec.gc.ca. (March 15, 2003.)

Books, Text Books:

5. Watkins, Pratricia, et al. Life Science. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1989.

6. Burnie, David. Bird. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1988.

7. Hill, Julia Butterfly. One Makes the Difference. New York: Harper Collins. 2002.

Encyclopedia:

8. Weller, Milton W. “Harlequin Duck.” Encyclopedia Americana. 1999.

Newspaper/Magazine

9. The Associated Press. “A Step Away from Extinction?” Portland Press Herald. 03 April. 03: Section 6A.