Harlequins are another small diving duck, less common than Buffleheads. They're not as colorful as Wood ducks, but still quite pretty. I had seen them a few times when I was running around the harbor, but not when I had my camera. The other day, at the end of a run, I spotted a pair of them near home. I ran home, grabbed my camera and the long lens, and headed back. I wasn't sure if they'd still be around by the time I got back. As I approached the spot, I was happy to see they were still there. But just as I arrived, three small girls ran down to the beach yelling and jumping around excitedly. I was sure the ducks would move on, but the girls and the ducks ignored each other completely. On the other hand, despite moving slowly and quietly, as soon as I pointed my camera at the ducks they would start to move away. Maybe I should have run around yelling but it makes it hard to take photographs.
I realized afterwards that I had focused almost entirely on the colorful male. I had to search through my photos to find one showing the female.
The male seemed to be quite successful at catching crabs to eat. I feel sorry for the crabs sometimes, they seem to be popular food items with the river otters, gulls, and ducks. The otters and gulls at least break them up to eat, but the ducks seem to swallow them whole. Better them than me!
They spent a fair bit of their time cruising around with their heads in the water, presumably looking for those tasty crabs.
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