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This week's featured photograph of a wintering common eider flock feeding frenzy near Stonington, Maine was submitted by outdoor scribe and photographer Ron Spomer(www.ronspomeroutdoors.com). "Maine is the only state in the lower 48 to host nesting common eiders," Ron writes. "Down to two nesting pairs in 1907, the birds increased to 25,000 pairs by 1971, but are again declining due probably to a combination of excessive hunting harvest and predation. Black-backed gulls take up to 90% of eggs and ducklings around some nesting islands. Bald eagles, mink and river otters add to the pressure. Human over-harvest of mussels, 80% of the species' diet, could also be contributing." Spomer said he found these birds with a flock of perhaps 500 concentrated in a narrow channel between two saltwater bays. He sat among boulders on shore and patiently waited in freezing temperatures for the flock to return. The outgoing tide created a strong flow in which the birds were flapping and diving. "It was a wild, primal, almost Arctic scene," he said. Technical: Canon D70, Canon 100-400 IS II lens, 1/200 sec., f-8, ISO 800.

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