Male King Eider on tundra pond, arctic, Alaska. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS, w/1.4x, 1/320 sec @ f/5.6L, ISO 800
The king eider is a bird I have long wanted to see. While it is hard to call out a favorite bird, it ranks up there with the best with its unique features, feathers, and colors. While in the very high arctic, I had only one evening to shoot due to a tight schedule and I fortunately found this male king eider swimming in a pond in the late hours of the nightless summer skies. The golden arctic light slipped behind a cloud about 10 minutes earlier. While I missed the golden light, this very flat and silvery light offers a soothing scene that really displays the features of the magnificent bird quite well. I took the shot at midnight, and the fog rolled in and vanquished much of the light, but I was lucky to sneak off this one frame. The following day offered more photo opportunities under completely different lighting condition.
