Long Tailed Duck

Clangula hyemalis

Status: Vulnerable. The Long Tailed Duck breeds in the tundras and marshes of northern Europe and Asia, and migrates to both coasts of North America, Northern Europe, and the Baltic Sea. It is hunted in many parts of its range, and it is often caught up in fishing nets.

In Slavic folklore Koschei the Deathless is a dark villain figure. But though he was immortal, he had a weakness - he was in terror of death. To protect himself, the sorcerer removed his death (or his soul). He hid it inside a needle, which is hidden inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a hare, in a chest, in a hollow log, on a pond, in a forest, under a green oak on the island of Bouyan. Once the chest was found and opened, Koschei was still not defeated, for the hare would run, and the duck would fly. But possession of the egg granted the holder control over the wizard, and if the egg was broken, all the centuries of age would come crashing down upon Koschei, and bring upon him the death that he so feared.

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