Royalty at the Cape Cod Canal

I went to the Cape Cod Canal today to search for the almost legendary King Eider. You may remember that I saw one last spring also. You may remember that, because I shamelessly overused a couple of the photos on multiple blog posts.  

   People have been taking the drive to the Canal for over a week. It was there last week when I went for the Tundra Swan and Snow Geese, I just knew I couldn't fit in all three chases in one afternoon. 

So I went today looking for King's. There have actually been two reported. One that was spectacularly bright and a duller younger male. I ended up finding the younger male. After I found it and watched it for a few minutes, I searched for the other one without success. In my search, I had multiple people asking me if I'd seen one. So I sent many people in the direction of the one that I found. 

Besides the King Eider, there were many species of sea ducks at the Canal today. The water was glass calm and the ducks were hugging the rocks. From my vantage point on the bike path, I got some great looks and really easy pictures.  Photos below. Most of the photos have not been cropped at all. The ducks were right along the bike path

For anyone interested in seeing the King Eider, here is where they were today. The one that I saw was near Pole 63. If you park at the Fishing Pier and go left, it is only about five poles down. The other one was reported to be under the Sagamore Bridge. I walked down to the bridge, but there was a guy fishing and there weren't any ducks around. No one I actually talked to saw the one under the bridge. However, the people that I talked with had others tell them they saw it. I suspect it was there earlier in the day. Those would be two good spots to start. 

Female Common Eider

Brant

Surf Scooter

Common Loon

King Eider

Male Common Eider

White Winged Scooter

Common Goldeneye

Female Eiders are actually quite
pretty close up