Just when we thought things were looking settled, a surprise discovery brought local birdwatchers out in force on Sunday afternoon. Unlike the recent run of rare visitors, this bird was slightly harder to pin down due to it's sea-going nature. Luckily, as it drifted up and down the Suffolk coast, the stunning first winter drake king eider could at times be watched just a few hundred metres from the beach.
King eiders are scarce, but annual, visitors to the UK's coast from their breeding grounds in the high Arctic. The nearest birds breed in Spitsbergen, with a handful spending the summer months off northern Norway, so it's not surprising that the majority of UK records are in Scottish waters. A few have made it to Norfolk before now, but none had ever been seen in Suffolk - until Sunday 12 September 2010, that is!
In full breeding plumage, king eiders are serious contenders for most attractive duck in the world - even beating their commoner cousins. Even as young birds (first winter means this bird was born in the spring and has moulted into an interim plumage), they are both attractive and charcteristic, with two short, triangular "sails" on their back and a large orange patch on the beak - as Minsmere volunteer photographer and guide Jon Evans' pictures clearly show.
Suffolk's first king eider was actually spotted further north, off Kessingland, before drifting past Minsmere as far as Sizewell, then heading back north. It continued ot show well between Dunwich and Sizewell throughout Monday, and remained just offshore from Minsmere this morning - so even I managed to catch up with it.
The red-backed shrike, wryneck and barred warbler have all finally departed, but the Lapland buntings remain on the beach. A probably red-footed falcon was reported on Sunday too - almost exactly a tear since a brief staying male last autumn! Up to five were reported over the weekend, but I could only find a reed bunting this morning. There was also a wheatear on the beach today. Lots of swallows were flying south today too.
Several staff and volunteers spent a fruitless half hour this morning trying to find a reported Arctic warbler in the sluice bushes. If the had been there, it didn't appear to be anymore, as all we could find were chiffchaffs, a reed warbler and a singing Cetti's warbler. There was also an unconfimred dowitcher species flying south this morning. If it had landed to be confirmed, that would have been popular.