{"id":9810,"date":"2017-01-07T05:32:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T10:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/p4td.lightshedder.com\/?p=9810"},"modified":"2017-01-07T06:21:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T11:21:51","slug":"common-eider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=9810","title":{"rendered":"Common Eider"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Female Common Eider, Back Creek, Kennebunk Maine.<\/p><\/div>\n

The female Common Eider is not one of the more striking ducks, at least at first glance, and certainly not from a distance. It is a heavy bodied duck with large dark bill, and its brown plumage can look a bit muddy. On closer inspection, that plumage is full of subtle detail, and actually quite beautiful, but you need binoculars, at the very least, to appreciate it. And the duck itself, as it goes about its business, is beautiful as well. I watched this one fish for crabs on the bottom of Back Creek where it flows into the Mosuam River…deep on the bottom where only a dive of nearly a minute could find them. And I watched the Eider defend its crabs from a hungry Heron Gull, repeatedly outwitting the gull by diving under with its catch just at the crucial moment. The Eider might be chunky, but it is fast when fast it what it takes, and quite graceful. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1\/400th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro and assembled in FrameMagic.<\/p>\n

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