Long-tailed duck

Clangula hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis), also called Oldsquaw, is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup and the family Anatidae of the order Anseriformes. It is a small, migratory, aquatic bird of wetland habitats, weighing 871 g with a wingspan of 71 cm.

Photo: Wolfgang Wander · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the long-tailed duck

The long-tailed duck is an aquatic predator and a carnivore, with a geographic range of 9,492,000 km². It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, a threatened category, and lays one clutch of 7.5 eggs per year, incubated for 25 days.

Weight: 705 g – 871 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 71 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 15.6 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 22.7 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 25 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 7.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 24 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle: Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the long-tailed duck?

At 71 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the long-tailed duck is about 42% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the long-tailed duck

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) — Fabian Roudra Baroi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the long-tailed duck live?

Not recorded

What is the long-tailed duck?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Long-tailed duck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Long-tailed_duck&oldid=1356930448), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

What does the long-tailed duck sound like?

Tony Phillips · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Jeuwre · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Is the long-tailed duck endangered?

The long-tailed duck is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

How is the long-tailed duck classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderAnseriformes
familyAnatidae
genusClangula
SpeciesClangula hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Anas brachyrhynchos, Anas glacialis, Anas hyemalis, Anas longicauda, Anas longicauda, Anas longicauda islandica, Anas miclonia, Anas sawka, Clangula brachyrhynchos, Clangula faberi, Clangula megauros, Clangula musica, Crimonessa glacialis, Fuligula glacialis, Glaucion hyemalis, Haralda glacialis, Harelda glacialis, Harelda hiemalis, Harelda musica, Nyroca hyemalis, Pagonetta glacialis, Platypus faberi, Platypus glacialis

Other names and names in other languages (94)

OldsquawEnglish
بط طويل الذنبArabic
بط طويل الذيلArabic
بطة طويلة الذيلArabic
Guite blancoAragonese
coríu árticuAsturian
Coríu FalampiuAsturian
MoryankaAzerbaijani
ЭялаBashkir
МаранкаBelarusian
Нырок-маранкаBelarusian
Ледена потапницаBulgarian
Morhouad-kerregiBreton
Ánec glacialCatalan
ànec glacialCatalan
Пӑр кӑвакалӗChuvash
hoholka ledníCzech
KôłpiónkaKashubian
hwyaden gynffonhirWelsh
hwyaden gynffon-hirWelsh
Hwyaid Cynffon-HirWelsh
havlitDanish
EisenteGerman
ΧιονόπαπιαGreek
longvosta klanguloEsperanto
Pato haveldaSpanish
Pato cola largaSpanish
AllgiarCentral Yupik
aulEstonian
Izotz-ahateBasque
اردک دمدرازPersian
alliFinnish
ÓgvellaFaroese
CacaouiFrench
harelde boréaleFrench
Harelde de MiquelonFrench
Harelde kakawiFrench
IsfögelNorthern Frisian
IiseinWestern Frisian
Lacha earrfhadaIrish
Eun buchainnScottish Gaelic
Laagh LheeahManx
Thunnag ammanaghManx
ברווז קרחHebrew
ברווז הקרח *Hebrew
patka ledaraCroatian
jegesréceHungarian
Բադ ծովայինArmenian
Aa'aangiqInuktitut
AaqhaaliqInupiaq
HávellaIcelandic
moretta codonaItalian
コオリガモJapanese
მეზღვია იხვიGeorgian
AlleqKalaallisut
Ұшқыр үйрекKazakh
바다꿩Korean
Hos lostekCornish
Түндүк өрдөкKyrgyz
ÄisintLuxembourgish
ledinė antisLithuanian
kākaulisLatvian
долгоопашеста паткаMacedonian
Мөнгөлөг шунгаахайMongolian
havelleNorwegian Bokmål
लामपुच्छ्रे हाँसNepali
ijseendDutch
Pilé vireuxPicard
lodówkaPolish
لمی پوچھل آلی بطخWestern Panjabi
pato-rabilongoPortuguese
Pato-de-cauda-afiladaPortuguese
Anda da glatschRomansh
raţa de gheţuriRomanian
Raţă de gheţuriRomanian
СаукRussian
ЭэбиллэYakut
HaŋŋáNorthern Sami
aŋŋálakkisNorthern Sami
ľadovka dlhochvostáSlovak
zimska racaSlovenian
Rosa e ngricaveAlbanian
LedenjarkaSerbian
ЛедењаркаSerbian
Ledenjarka - ЛедењаркаSerbian
alfågelSwedish
เป็ดหางยาวThai
telkuyrukTurkish
Ала шивегей-кудурукTuvinian
МорянкаUkrainian
All'Veps
Vịt đuôi dàiVietnamese
長尾鴨Chinese
长尾鸭Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the long-tailed duck

Other species in the same family Anatidae.

Mallard

Anas platyrhynchos

Anatidae

Greylag goose

Anser anser

Anatidae

Northern pintail

Anas acuta

Anatidae

Mute swan

Cygnus olor

Anatidae

Eurasian teal

Anas crecca

Anatidae

Ruddy shelduck

Tadorna ferruginea

Anatidae

CompareLong-tailed duck vs Mallard Long-tailed duck vs Greylag goose Long-tailed duck vs Northern pintail Long-tailed duck vs Mute swan

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the long-tailed duck?

The long-tailed duck is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes.

How heavy is the long-tailed duck?

The long-tailed duck weighs 871 g, and the lowest value reported by our sources is 705 g. Its wingspan is 71 cm.

What does the long-tailed duck eat?

The long-tailed duck is an aquatic predator and is classed as a carnivore.

Is the long-tailed duck endangered?

The long-tailed duck is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.

How long does the long-tailed duck live?

The long-tailed duck has a lifespan of 15.6 years, and our sources report up to 22.7 years.

How many eggs does the long-tailed duck lay?

The long-tailed duck lays 7.5 eggs per clutch, with 1 clutch per year and an incubation period of 25 days.

Is the long-tailed duck migratory?

Yes, the long-tailed duck is migratory and lives an aquatic lifestyle in wetland habitats.

Who named the long-tailed duck?

Linnaeus named it in 1758, written as Clangula hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-duck

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BibTeX

@misc{long_tailed_duck_2026,
  title = {Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-duck},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}