King Eider in Flight
In case you didn’t see my last post, Ron Bielefeld (Whistling Wings Photography) and I just got back from a Dalton Highway trip to Deadhorse, Alaska to photograph birds that nest on the northern tundra. Yesterday I posted a Spectacled Eider pair, the only pair we found. This is a post of a King Eider, one of several Eider species and a spectacular one at that. We found several pairs, but they were not very tolerant of our presence. However, with patience we were able to approach close enough not to push them and allow enough time for them to approach us. This is the colorful male of the species who gave us the pleasure of a fly by. I haven’t seen the other species of Eiders but from the pictures this guy is, in my opinion, the most striking.
I read that they migrate in great numbers in the spring, a sight I would love to behold. They can fly at night and in dense fog, another of natures mysteries. During the nesting season they move into northern coastal areas and nest in small depressions built by the female and lined with her down. She alone cares for the eggs, and I read that she is extremely reluctant to leave the nest, instead flattening herself in an effort at concealment. Unlike the male she is a relatively drab patterned brown. During the preliminaries of nesting both male and female are in freshwater tundra waters, dabbling and eating small invertebrates. For the rest of the year they are at sea, diving for benthic invertebrates, sometimes as deep as 80 feet.
(Somateria spectabilis (an apt name)) (Sony a1, 200-600 lens @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000 second, ISO 640)
King Eider in Flight
In case you didn’t see my last post, Ron Bielefeld (Whistling Wings Photography) and I just got back from a Dalton Highway trip to Deadhorse, Alaska to photograph birds that nest on the northern tundra. Yesterday I posted a Spectacled Eider pair, the only pair we found. This is a post of a King Eider, one of several Eider species and a spectacular one at that. We found several pairs, but they were not very tolerant of our presence. However, with patience we were able to approach close enough not to push them and allow enough time for them to approach us. This is the colorful male of the species who gave us the pleasure of a fly by. I haven’t seen the other species of Eiders but from the pictures this guy is, in my opinion, the most striking.
I read that they migrate in great numbers in the spring, a sight I would love to behold. They can fly at night and in dense fog, another of natures mysteries. During the nesting season they move into northern coastal areas and nest in small depressions built by the female and lined with her down. She alone cares for the eggs, and I read that she is extremely reluctant to leave the nest, instead flattening herself in an effort at concealment. Unlike the male she is a relatively drab patterned brown. During the preliminaries of nesting both male and female are in freshwater tundra waters, dabbling and eating small invertebrates. For the rest of the year they are at sea, diving for benthic invertebrates, sometimes as deep as 80 feet.
(Somateria spectabilis (an apt name)) (Sony a1, 200-600 lens @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000 second, ISO 640)