Harlequin ducks are white-water birds. In the spring and summer you can find them along fast-moving streams like Icicle or Peshastin Creek. They are excellent divers, using their feet and wings to swim underwater. They walk along the bottom of the stream against the current with their wings closed, heads held low, poking among stones where they catch and eat nymphs of mayflies, stone flies, and larvae of caddis flies.

The strikingly beautiful harlequin duck is unmistakable. The slate blue-gray male bird has chestnut colored sides and unusual white patches, stripes and a white spot on the face behind the eye. The female is uniformly brown except for paler belly and three round white spots on her head. The name “harlequin” refers to the duck’s bright colors, suggesting an actor wearing face paint.

Preferring rough water all year round, harlequins migrate in mixed groups of three to twelve, finding their winter white-water in the surf and rocks on the northern coasts of America. While traveling on the Washington State ferries in the fall and winter, bird watchers may see these handsome ducks.