Importante arrivée d’Hareldes boréales en France au cours de l’hiver 2007-2008

The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) is a small, neat sea duck. Long-tailed Ducks show a bewildering variety of patterns depending on their age, their sex and the time of year but they are invariably a mixture of black, white and brown, usually white on the flanks and face.
The male is mainly white with some brownish-black markings. Females are browner. In flights, they show all dark wings and white bellies.
They characteristically land at sea with an unceremonious belly-flop.
This duck has a wide distribution at high latitudes in Eurasia and North America. Most of the birds inhabiting northern Europe are wintering in the Baltic Sea. This population is estimated at 4.5 millions of individuals, but only a few thousand reach the Wadden Sea and the Eastern British coasts.
A few birds (less than 100) can be watched in Winter in France, mainly on the coast, the Douarnenez Bay (Brittany) being probably the best one even if there’s no real pattern of data.
The 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 were not very good, but this 2007-2008 Winter seems to be better. In this article, we propose you a presentation of this little duck and some elements to understand why some Winters are better than others to discover it in France.