This duck is hanging out with a bunch of wild ducks in my hood in the Katy area. It looks like an Old Squaw hen. Any thoughts?

Looks like a juvie drake based on the white/grey on the sides.

cool looking duck

Used to be called Oldsquaw but now known as Long-tailed Duck. Very uncommon in Texas and usually only in winter. If local birders find out that you have that duck you are going to have company. Lots of birders in west Houston.

FincAg said:

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Wood duck hen is my guess

This could be correct. Really does look like the Old Squaw too. Just read about it. Cool duck.

agfan2013 said:

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Wood duck hen is my guess

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Not even close

Goldeneye Hen?

Where in Katy? Firethorne? Cinco?

Long-tailed duck

Common goldeneye & woodie hybrid?

ursusguy said:

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Long-tailed duck

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I second

I'm 99% sure it's a Old Squaw (long tailed duck). I shot some a few weeks ago on the East Coast. Here's another picture. It's been here for a couple days. She's way off course on her migration.

Cross Creek Ranch

Gotcha. There have been a ton of divers (mostly redheads and blue bills) in Firethorne and Cinco lakes lately. I don't drive through cross creek a lot but am right down the street near 1463.

We have a ton of scaup and full plumed shovelers right now. Also seeing ringnecks, ruddy ducks, blue wing teal, and mottleds. We had a cinnamon teal on the same pond as the old squaw a couple years ago.

ursusguy said:

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Long-tailed duck

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Agree, but I still call them oldsquaw. What stupid P.C. reason did they give for changing that name. Hopefully it is not as dumb as the reasons given for renaming the jewfish.

Sixdrakes said:

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Cross Creek Ranch

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Cross Creek resident as well. Father in law lives by the polishing pond. Fun to go up there with the kids and watch all the birds.

I promise to change my username shortly to Junction71, as I live in Junction and '71 Wildlife/Fisheries Science grad , TPWD Biologist ret.).

The AOU (American Ornithological Union) often changes bird names, mostly a result of genetic studies that determine the species needs to be split, hence 1 bird species becomes 2. I have a very old Peterson Field Guide to Texas Birds and you wouldn't believer how many bird names have changed over the years. Sometimes I don't even know the reason. The Western Scrub Jay, which is the common jay in the Texas Hill Country, is now known as the Woodhouse's Scrub Jay with the true Western Scrub Jay found now in California.

Sweet....also a former TPWD biologist. Not retired, just had a unique opportunity pop up.

Which pond? Live in Cross Creek

Ursus, that's cool. We may know some of the same people although many of the Wildlife Bio's I knew and worked with have retired or passed. TPWD was a great state agency to work for.

I was a Fisheries Biologist with my whole career spent in SE Texas working on the big lakes but later moved into Aquatic Habitat work with emphasis on invasive aquatic plant issues on the public lakes of Texas.

agfan2013 said:

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Wood duck hen is my guess

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Lol. Have you ever seen a wood duck hen?

Cross Creek resident as well. I think this hen is up at the polishing pond. Saw pictures of it a month ago on the residents page. We have a ton of ducks in the neighborhood. Will be interested how this Arctic blasts affects the migration.

MY LOST RACING PIGEON!!!

I have, thanks for asking.

They have a similar cutout of different feathers around their eyes, stay around Texas all year, and when I first googled "long tail duck" since I had never heard of one before, most pics must have been of drakes be cause they didn't look that similar and the expected range map didn't have them anywhere near Texas.

Second pic does show a little more scale on size and more of the feathers so I can see it is what op thought it is.

emac0002 said:

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Which pond? Live in Cross Creek

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The polishing pond or I prefer to it as the habitat pond. There are hundreds of ducks on it now, but that is just a fraction of the birds that used to frequent it several years ago.

It's for sure an old squaw! That bird is WAAAAAYYYY off its course. I've heard of them following the course of California and the coast of Texas and back up along the East coast but very rare. Their main migration is from North Canada through Ontario and into NY area. Maybe a hybrid or got mixed in with the common Goldeneye migration

There have been several old squaws observed this winter, according to Bird of Texas facebook page.

Cool duck, I have never seen one in 35 years of duck hunting.

water turkey said:

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There have been several old squaws observed this winter, according to Bird of Texas facebook page.

Cool duck, I have never seen one in 35 years of duck hunting.

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If that is the case, maybe it is not some random occurrence. Maybe they are starting to follow the zebra mussels. That would be at least one ancillary mild benefit from those horrible little things taking over our lakes.

So what typically happens to a duck that gets lost in migration (if they don't die)? Just roam around alone? Eventually find another group and join up?

The bird is not lost nor is it migrating. A few move south and over-winter in Texas every year but there are so few they are hardly noticed, even by duck hunters. Some years they "irrupt", as some other bird species do, and may be found in unusual places. Several years ago a considerable irruption of Long-tailed Duck occurred in Texas so that 7-10 were reported all at one time. I even had one here in Junction at the Wastewater Treatment Ponds that ended up being the first county record and one of the few records for the Hill Country.

FincAg said:

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Is that Drake, from State Farm?