BLOG 26 Mar 2015

King and Steller's Eiders

Dave Capper, my companion on the trip, needed King Eider - so that was clearly a major target for the trip. We saw a few scattered along the Varanger coast, but the key experiences were photographing a small group at close range in Vadso harbour, courtesy of Arntzen Arctic Adventures, and scoping the 'King Eider vortex' off the island of Vardo (a maelstrom of marine life). Our thanks to Oyvind Arntzen and Tormod Amundsen respectively. First the portraits from Oyvind's floating hide in Vadso.

Wildlife

James Lowen

On the subject of Globally Threatened Birds, I find it worrying that such a familiar species as Long-tailed Duck is hurtling towards extinction, being classified as Vulnerable. This made my best-ever views of adult male LTDs particularly poignant.

Now the chaos of life off Vardo. King and Common Eiders - several thousand of each - accompanied by hundreds of auks, gulls and cormorants. Frenetic!

It is surely a close-run thing as to whether Steller's Eider or King Eider are the better-looking duck. For me, Steller's just sneaks it - partly on account of its status as a Globally Threatened Bird. Thanks to Oyvind again, we had close views in Vadso - and saw a few groups elsewhere, notably at Kiberg.