When Stephen Kloiber spotted a colorful duck swimming among a flock of common goldeneyes in late December in the Delaware River, he knew it didn't belong.

It turns out it was a harlequin duck the 18-year-old Pen Argyl Area High School senior spotted at the Martins Creek Environmental Preserve off Martins Creek-Belvidere Highway in Lower Mount Bethel Township.

It was the first documented harlequin duck spotting in Northampton County, according to the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society.

The male harlequin spotted Dec. 28 by Sieminski and Kloiber was last seen about March 5 along South Foul Rift Road in Harmony Township, according to the New Jersey Audubon Society.

Scott Barnes, senior naturalist for the New Jersey Audubon Society at the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory on the Jersey Shore, said it’s likely the wayward waterfowl has already headed back to his breeding grounds.

The bird spends spring and summer in the northern reaches of eastern Canada’s Labrador Peninsula or in the west, along the Canadian Rockies and in Alaska.

Sieminski said she and Kloiber, both members of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, immediately spread the word of their exciting discovery.

A surprising sight

Dave DeReamus, compiler of the Eastern Pennsylvania Birdline for the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, traveled to Lake Erie to see his first harlequin duck in Pennsylvania. He didn’t have to travel far to see his second.

DeReamus said other undocumented harlequins have been seen in the area over the decades, but the recent photos give this one a special place in local birding history as the first documented in the Lehigh Valley.

New Jersey has seen more harlequin ducks than Pennsylvania, Barnes said. A famous flock of about 30 winters each season off the coast of Ocean County in Barnegat Bay.

Although the Delaware River harlequin is the only one of its species in the area, reports indicate it wasn’t traveling alone all winter, Barnes said.

Harlequin could return

The advent of the digital camera and online networking has helped birders spread the word about rare sights, according to Barnes and DeReamus.

DeReamus remembers snapping shots of birds on film cameras and not learning that he’d seen something exceptional until he got the photos back.

There’s no telling if the celebrated Delaware harlequin will make a habit of visiting for the winter, but Barnes said it’s not such a far-fetched notion.