Friday's Foto

The adult male King Eider is arguably one of the world's most spectacular looking waterfowl. This young male that decided to stop off at Brooklyn's Plum Beach recently has several more months ahead of him before he develops his brightly colored head plumage and large orange bill knob. A circumpolar breeder, in eastern North America this large seaduck winters offshore in southern Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and New England. They will rarely go as far south as Florida. These deep divers feed on mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic insects. The IUCN Red List considers King Eider as "least concern", however because they only breed in the Arctic, they may be at risk from the impacts of global climate change.