Clangula hyemalis
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae
Subfamily Anatinae
Other names: Old Squaw
♂ Adult male in winter.— Patch on side of neck blackish-brown (occasionally nearly absent); region in front of eye light gray; rest of head, neck, upper breast, and back white; back, wings, and tail brown, two white patches extending down the back; breast and upper belly brown; lower belly white; two middle tail-feathers black, very long and narrow; outer tail-feathers white: base of bill black, tip yellow, band of pink between; legs and feet pale slate.
♂ Adult male in late spring.— Patch in front of eye gray; small patch back of eye white; rest of head, neck, back, breast, and upper belly sooty black, feathers of the back margined with reddish-brown; lower belly white; tail-feathers and feet as in winter.
♀ Adult female in winter.— Head, neck, and lower parts mostly white; top of head and sides of neck dusky; upper parts dusky-brown.
♀ Adult female in spring.— Similar to female in winter, but sides of head and neck blackish; feathers of the back margined with brown.
Immature in winter.— Either similar to adult female in winter, or with head and neck chiefly grayish; sides of head whitish; breast streaked with dusky.
The Old-squaw is a very common winter visitant on the coast of New York and New England from October to May. It does not come into the inner harbors as freely as the Whistler [Common Goldeneye] and Buffle-head, but feeds in small or large flocks in the surf close to the outer beaches, or in vast 6 rafts over shoals at sea. It rides easily over the great rollers, or dives into and through them. Little companies are constantly moving here and there, flying, after they get under way, with ease and great rapidity. The Old-squaw is noted for its garrulousness, particularly in spring; the chattering of a flock is musical, resembling the syllables honk, honk-a-link, honk-a-link (Sanford). In mild days in spring and fall Old-squaws ” tower,” — that is, fly to a great height, and then descend with rushing wings.
The long tail-feathers of the male are very conspicuous, drooping below him as he lights in the water, or cocked up at an angle as he swims. His white head with the black spot behind the eye sufficiently characterizes the male, even when the long tail-feathers do not show. The females and young have much darker heads, and lack the long tailfeathers of the adult male, but are readily identified by the large amount of whitish about the sides of the head, and generally by the presence in the flock of long-tailed males. (See Mackay, “ Auk,” vol. ix. pp. 330-337.)
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)