Clangula hyemalis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only member of the genus Clangula.
The long-tailed duck was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas hyemalis. Linnaeus cited the English naturalist George Edwards's description and illustration of the "Long-tailed duck from Hudson's-Bay" that had been published in 1750 in the third volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds.
This duck is now the only species placed in the genus Clangula; the genus was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist William Leach to accommodate the long-tailed duck, in an appendix on species to John Ross's account of his voyage to look for the Northwest Passage. The genus name Clangula is a diminutive of the Latin clangere, meaning "to resound". The specific epithet hyemalis, also Latin, means "of winter". The species is considered to be monotypic – no subspecies... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svalbard | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 6 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 15 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Belgrade | 🇷🇸 Serbia | |
| 4 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 8 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Central Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Ogród Zoologiczny w Katowicach | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Duck sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 137 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 166th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Duck in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-tailed Duck sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
13th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Long-tailed Duck sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 13th at under 5%. The best odds are in Svalbard (Norway, about 30%), Acadia National Park (United States, about 10%) and Cape Breton Highlands National Park (Canada, about 10%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Long-tailed Duck that you can see in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Blue-winged Teal (about 50%), Northern Shoveler (about 40%) and Lesser Scaup (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-tailed Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (137 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
