King Eider at Lock 7, Mohawk River

By Corey • November 28, 2007 • 8 comments

4:15 AM. Shower, coffee, kiss Daisy good-bye. Rain and cold and dark. Queens Boulevard, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Triboro Bridge, Major Deegan, Thruway, Tappan Zee Bridge, Thruway, sunrise, Exit 23. Home, feed cats, drop off stuff, pick up other stuff. 787, I-90, Northway, Exit 6, Route 7, Rosendale Road. Lock 7.

King Eider!!! The juvenile male that John Hershey, a local birder, found and posted about on the local listserv. Not only year bird number 305 but also a lifer!

Then off to work. Not a bad Monday morning. And especially not bad considering that on Sunday Jory and I had unsuccessfully scoped through hundreds of Common Eider hoping to find a King Eider hiding among them and here one was not fifteen minutes out of the way on my way to work.

horrible shot of a juvenile male King Eider

best shot I could get

A better picture of a King Eider and some interesting research on the species can be found here.

Update: Jeff Nadler, bird photographer, just posted these shots of the juvenile King Eider.

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About the Author

Corey

Corey is a lifelong upstate New Yorker who recently took the plunge and moved to the city. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list and broke the magical 300 barrier in New York State in 2007 by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative. He lives near Forest Park in Queens with Daisy and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B.

8 Responses to “King Eider at Lock 7, Mohawk River”

Nick Nov 28th, 2007 at 9:53 pm

Nice. That would be a new one for me.
Will Nov 29th, 2007 at 7:41 am

Another Escape?
Jeff Nadler Nov 29th, 2007 at 10:02 am

wish the eider were an adult male.
Patrick Nov 29th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

I assume Will is just giving you a hard time. I can’t imagine that anyone would keep a King Eider captive. Nice bird!
Will Nov 29th, 2007 at 1:00 pm

It’s a little known fact, but Corey has done his big year in an aviary.
Corey Nov 29th, 2007 at 8:03 pm

Jeff: I too wish the bird was an adult male. Maybe it will stick around long enough to molt!

Will is just suffering bird envy. It’s a common affliction among birders…
Will Nov 29th, 2007 at 8:30 pm

Don’t know… Looking at that picture again… It could be a Mallard…
Jochen Nov 30th, 2007 at 7:02 am

I think King Eiders are particularly hard to keep, very much unlike Pink-footed Geese, Barnacle Geese, Western Kingbirds and Ash-throated Flycatchers which are all bound to be escapes…

Nice bird anyway. And talking about birder envy:
Yeah, sure, adult males in breeding plumage are nice, but then again, you know, been there - seen that - done that … just another fancy bird, not that special