[Charles Eldermire, BirdCams Project Leader, Cornell Lab of Ornithology] The first time I heard a Long-tailed duck was up on the north slope of Alaska. I was on the bank of a river and here was this bird flying in looking for a puddle somewhere to land in. And ringing across the tundra was this cry. Long-tailed ducks make this sound both as a way to let other ducks know that they’re there, but especially in territorial matters they can make this fierce, unconstrained cry which can be mistaken for distress even or surprise when sort of posturing towards other long-tailed ducks: This is where I’m hanging out, I don’t want you nearby. One thing that sets this sound apart from a lot of the other sounds that I hear on the tundra was just the really comical nature to it. And for that reason, these birds really almost provide comic relief through the hours of fieldwork that I’ve done up in the arctic. [Audio Recordings: Gerrit Vyn; Photographs: Gerrit Vyn]