Saturday I was lucky enough to see a King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) among a large flock of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) along the Cape Cod Canal.  King Eiders are an arctic duck, and are uncommon this far south, so seeing this individual was a fairly rare opportunity.  This particular male King Eider in the Canal was in his full breeding plumage: a spectacular looking bright red bill topped with an orangey-yellow swollen knob, combined with a blueish-grey head, a yellowish chest, and striking black wing feathers pointed directly upwards while the wings are folded on his back.  All of that decoration made this King Eider easy to spot, despite the hundreds of Common Eiders lining the edge of the Canal.

King Eider (center) among male (black and white) and female (brown) Common Eiders. 

Although King Eiders nest in low marshy areas in the tundra in the far northern reaches of Canada, they winter in marine environments near coastlines or on open water shallow enough to allow for foraging at the bottom (less than 25 meters deep where they can dive to forage on the bottom) where they eat a wide variety of foods, including mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and algae. So while Cape Cod may be towards the southern end of their range, finding this individual along the coastline is consistent with their winter habitat preferences.

Photo credit for this photo and cover photo: Bob Shewack