From David Ord:
In the interests of sharing a sighting so others may have the opportunity to find the same bird and confirm/reject - a possible sighting of a juvenile male King Eider in Goultrop Roads, Tuesday afternoon (10th). It was on its own and my instinct in the field (chunky bird, head profile) was it was a Common Eider duck. Since then I have struggled to reconcile the photos I took with birds (Eider/Scoter) I thought were possible here. So tonight I asked the advice of a greater authority, who indicated that it is most likely to be an Eider (I agree) but the head and beak profile looks somewhat similar to King Eider - a bird I must admit I had not considered. So, after an hour or two of searching for age and plumage variations of both Eider and King Eider on the web, I have the following evidence for your consideration. The first two (poor) photos attached are mine, taken yesterday. The third, better, image is taken from 'Mike Watson’s Blog' and is an image of a young male King Eider taken at Filey Brigg on 25th July 2010. The 4th image shows my tracing of the profile of my Image 2, reversed and overlain on Mike’s King Eider. Apart from a very slightly smaller bill on my tracing the match is very good. I haven’t yet found an image of a Common Eider that gives that same match. I’ll be out again tomorrow trying to find the bird again in better light!
