A rare duck not seen in the Santa Cruz area for nearly a decade caused a frenzy among bird enthusiasts recently.

A throng of birdwatchers gathered at the Santa Cruz Harbor to see a female harlequin duck as she bobbed around the harbor, staying close to the rocks. 

More than 60 birders posted observations of her on a bird sighting database, eBird, between Nov. 14 and Nov. 19 — a flurry of excitement spurred by the infrequency of sightings of this northern species in Santa Cruz. A second harlequin duck, this one a young male, was spotted riding the surf with a group of surf scoters (another seafaring duck species) between Sunny Cove and Corcoran Beach late last month, generating another burst of eBird posts that brought the total to 94 recorded sightings of just these two birds last month. These sightings are the first in Santa Cruz since 2014.

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