Sometimes I take pictures knowing where I am going to use them, but not sure when!

This is the case yesterday. I was actually out walking with the camera and it was a gorgeous day.

Let me rephrase that, it was a gorgeous day at around 2.00 pm on Saturday 18th May as you can see from the picture above.

I was on my way to the harbour to see if there were any interesting boats for me to photograph.

But we are to talk about birds not boats!

What do you see, I did notice some birds, there looked to be five of them, so zoomtyzoom we go ....

Oh look they were black and white. A common combination for birds around here.

Let's go in for another closer look ...

Look at them sitting on their chubby black bums!

Some of you will know exactly what birds these are...

Some might not.

They do remind me of nuns with their colouring!

They are male Eider ducks. Some of you might have heard of Eiderdown pillows and quilts. Well yes they come from the Eider duck.

I think the males have a strange head. Even though it is the same size as the female's head you can't really see the eyes and head looks like a weird star wars helmet!

But who was looking on jealously...?

None other than Percy fluffing pigeon!

What was he doing down at the beach....

Hopefully just being nosey!

So a wee bit about Eider ducks... courtesy of the RSPB fact sheet

The Eider is the UK's heaviest and fastest flying duck. It's a true seaduck, rarely found away from coasts. Its reliance on coastal shellfish for food has brought it into conflict with mussel farmers. Eiders are very sociable and usually stay close to shore, riding the swell in a sandy bay or strung out in long lines beyond the breaking waves. It is an Amber List species because of its winter concentrations.

Take note of how they march, you are about to see a fluffy marching picture in a wee minute.

So that was the male Eider ducks at the bottom of the picture.

I saw further birds up the rocks... What were they?

Let's go and investigate.

There you see a brown Eider duck and that is the female. She is surrounded by males, isn't that always the case!

But look who else is there .....

Oh fluff me, but two of the most cute wee ducklings you will see.

No ugly ducklings with this pair!

The Eider is the UK's biggest and fastest duck and you can see how plump these boys are!

Be prepared for some fluffy cuteness!

Remember I said about the marching, the wee one on the right is starting early and I am sure will master the Eider March!

Look how teeny he is compared to the plump adult male.

But can you see mummy Ellen Eider peering down to see what wee Eddie Eider was upto in this pic?

The Eider family...

When you get a head on view of the dad he looks quite broad like a bulldog!

Mum meanwhile loves showing off her baby ducklings!

Mum meanwhile was flexing her wings in order to put all the boys in their place.

Never mess with a momma they say!

The little ones meanwhile were having no problems swimming....

They were taking to it like a duck to water!

The handsome couple

I thought I would show you a male and female side by side so you could see the difference.

It really is so hard to see the eyes of the make but they have the same head and bill.

I do hope you liked this little parade of the Eider duck clan!

This post though, is an entry for this week's Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 166 hosted by the wonderful @nelinoeva in the fantastic Feathered Friends community on Hive.

And I shall pick this one for the entry

They are cute birds but for me the only one I could pick was this picture of Fluffing Eider cuteness!

What do you think? Was that your favourite?

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!