Grass on the Spectacles

[Declan Troy]

I was in Deadhorse, Alaska earlier this summer and noticed a banded female Spectacled Eider. As I tried to get her ID her mate ended up foraging relatively close to me. Not a great angle but you take what you can get when the opportunity arises.

50D, iso 400, 100-400 @ 400, f5.6, 1/350, fill flash BB

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3506/3946221823_3ef47e9e49_o.jpg

[Randy Stout]

Declan:

What an amazing face. I haven't seen this one before. It makes me think of some of the characters in Star Wars.

Nicely exposed, the eye seems a bit soft. Is he feeding on the grasses? I might crop up a small amount, and just a sliver off the left side.

Thanks for sharing!

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Those grasses wrapped around the head and neck are hilarous! Like Randy, I would take a bit off left, but also at bottom. I would also tidy-up the eye by getting rid of the blue reflection in it. A lower would have been great - but from what I read you already know that ;-)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The grass around the head makes it almost look like dog ears. :) Great find, this is a species I'd love to see sometime. I agree regarding cropping it a bit tighter.

[Tony Whitehead]

Very cool face and behaviour. I see what Randy see re Star Wars - definitely some Jar Jar Binks features:D
Have tried a tighter crop, a slight linear burn on the brightest whites, corner burn and slightly increased sharpening. Agree a lower angle may have been nicer but grasses frame him well without obstruction.

[Brian Barcelos]

These got to be one of the coolest (weirdest) looking ducks out there. Great exposure and colors, I like Tony's comp here.

Brian

[Declan Troy]

Thanks all. Indeed an interesting duck, the males border on grotesque. I find the females much nice looking. Randy it is unlikely that it is feeding on the grass (Arctophila). Odds are he isn't eating much but may be getting some chironomid larvae and perhaps some seeds in the sediments. The males tend to lose a lot of weight while they are on the tundra which can be an exceptionally short time in this species. I futzed around with the cropping as per the suggestions an ended up with something not too different from Tony's version (I kept a bit more on the bottom, a bit less on top but not different enough to repost).

Daniel suggested and it look like Tony implemented "fixing" the eye to get rid of the blue. This isn't a reflection, Spectacled Eiders actually have blue eyes (well, it is more like the whites are light blue rather than the iris). This trait used to get a startled reaction from all my field helpers when we would capture the birds. I doubt if any field guide mentions this but then by the time you see the whites of their eyes you probably have long figured out what species it is! Another in the long list of oddities of this species.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Harshad Barve]

what a species this is , Fantastic ,
repost works better except eye as per your info
TFS

[Declan Troy]

Harshad,

With all the exotic wildlife you post it is nice to find you find some of our humble beasts to be fantastic, thanks.

Declan

[Stu Bowie]

The grass around the head adds to an already interesting head. Havent seen one of these on the site before or anywhere else. Everything pretty much covered, so thanks for sharing.

[Matt Vosniak]

It doesn't get much better in the duck realm than a spectacled eider Declan. I like the others love the grasses around the bird. Maybe someday if I get real lucky I will just get to see one of these fellas. Well captured!!