King Eider
Somateria spectabilis

1/1000s at f13, ISO:800, Nikon D300S w 500mm and 1.4X extender


\"King Eider,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) is a large sea duck that breeds along northern hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July. They lay 4-7 eggs in a scrape on the ground lined with grass and down.The female (occasionally colloquially referred to as a \"Queen Eider\" is a brown bird, but can still be readily distinguished from all ducks except other eider species on size and structure. The head is shorter than in the Common Eider, and the feathering extension onto the bill is rounded, not triangular in shape.
Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada
 
07/02/2011