Bob Duchesne’s Wild Maine: Daredevil Ducks [AUDIO]

We're going offshore to meet the harlequin duck, a colorful daredevil that suffers more broken bones than any other bird. Plus, we'll talk to Brad Allen, an Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist about why Maine's sea duck hunting isn't what it used to be.

Part 1: If you want to see a harlequin duck, a great place to look is around the back side of Isle au Haut, more specifically in the surf where no other duck dares to go. We head out with Mike Little, executive director of the Island Heritage Trust, who talks about the many islands south of Stonington.

Part 2: We're on the Isle au Haut Ferry to see harlequin ducks, but there are a lot of birds to see along the way. Among the birds we see are the great cormorant, the red necked grebe and the hard-to-spot purple sandpiper.

Part 3: Bird watchers and duck hunters are asking the same question: What happened to all the common eiders? There used to be thousands nesting pairs off the Maine coast. Now the population is considerably lower.

Part 4: Where are all the eiders? Turns out most of them are in Cape Cod.

Part 5: Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Brad Allen explains why green crabs might be partially to blame for reduced numbers of common eiders. Here's why: