Bird of the Week – King Eider
A King Eider drake in breeding plumage is so outrageous looking, that it seems improbable.
King Eider Drake, Resurrection Bay, Alaska
But, yeah, that’s really what they look like, easily the most colorful of North American waterfowl. This is a sea duck, that comes ashore to nest in tundra ponds along the Arctic coast of North America, including Alaska. The Latin name for this species is Somateria spectabilis. The genus name Somateria is a combination of the Greek words sōma or sōmatos, meaning “body”, and erion, meaning “wool”; the combination, “wooly body,” is a reference to the eider’s famously thick, soft down. The species name, spectabilis is Latin for “showy”, “remarkable” or “worth seeing”, a reference to the handsomeness of the adult male’s plumage. So the Latin translates as “very showy wooly body.”
The King Eider hen (Queen Eider?) is less colorful but still beautiful:
King Eider Hen, Resurrection Bay, Alaska
You can see spectacular rafts of mixed Common and King Eiders off the coast of Kodiak Island most winters.
Camera geek stuff: f6.3, 1/640, ISO2000.
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Could you call it a Pale-Trumpeting Mess with really bad hair?
If you could cross a Trump with a Palin what kind of an odd duck would you get? I’m not sure they are appropriate species to cross breed,but for the sake of science should we find out?
Throwback to the late 50s when Detroit emphasized big rear fins on autos. Otherwise, that is a right handsome male and female. Bet they have disgusting offspring.
They’re both beautiful (him and her).
I’m still partial to Wood Ducks, who also nest in tree cavities when they can find them. Of course, people also build nest boxes for Wood Ducks.