If Carlsberg did dreads.... today I called in at the Ythan estuary near Newburgh, just north of Aberdeen hoping to renew my acquaintance with the drake king eider but no sign today. I did however see this blonde bombshell, a fabulous leucistic female eider. A really stunning bird, one of the best looking females I've ever met in stark contrast to the more typical female eider which I find quite an ugly looking bird.
Even on a dull, dreary and drizzly day like today the Ythan estuary is a very special place, with thousands of terns and many waders and eiders, plus a few grey seals. Every now and then the terns get up for no apparent reason in what's known as a dread, and there are very few dreads which I have seen which compare with that on the Ythan!
The leucistic bird isn't just paler, it actually looks more slender and petite, or is that just my imagination? Sorry about the quality of the photos, it was a dull and misty day today, with persistent drizzle and these birds were a good 100m away.
Surely this is more slender than a normal female eider? Look how slim the bill looks on the leucistic bird.
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