A photographer has shared images of a rare Arctic bird that he spotted in Scotland after searching for it for "five years".
Dod Morrison from Aberdeen was able to get images of a king eider last week after many failed attempts to capture the animal on film. The large sea duck can be seen annually in very small numbers in Scotland, before migrating to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July.
The birds are known to appear at the start of summer in the Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire prior to migration. However, they are notoriously elusive, and are therefore difficult to see — much less capture a photo of.
Dod was at last able to snap some pics of the stunning animal, though, and was quick to share the spectacular images to celebrate his fantastic accomplishment.
The photographs show a male king eider resting on the beach. The main feature of the bird that stands out is its bright and colourful plumage, which is only seen in the males.
Speaking about his amazing sighting, Dod commented: "The king eider drake is a male duck that is usually found in the Artic regions of the world and not Scotland. Elvis, so called by the locals, has been coming to the Ythan River, north-east Scotland, for at least 10 years.
"It can be for a few days, it can be for a few weeks, you never know, but I have been looking to see him on his summer visits for about five years and last week it happened, albeit from a distance."
Dod also shared the images to Facebook, where they quickly racked up almost 300 likes and nearly 20 comments. Fellow users were keen to share their thoughts on the snaps and congratulate the photographer.
One wrote: "Gorgeous birds. So glad you managed to see them and take pic and share, thank you."
"Absolutely stunning," a second wrote, while a third echoed: "Beautiful birds!"
Meanwhile, a fourth commented: "Well done buddy!"
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