‘Very rare’ creature named Elvis eluded photographer for years. He finally spotted it

A photographer has been making yearly treks to a remote corner of the world in the hopes of spotting Elvis. He finally succeeded.

Named after the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis is a male king eider duck, a colorful seabird that dwells in the polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere, far from most humans.

Elvis has been flying to the River Ythan in northern Scotland for a decade, Dod Morrison, a wildlife photographer from Aberdeen, told McClatchy News.

“He can be here for three weeks or three days; you never know how long,” Morrison said, adding that king eiders are “usually in the Arctic regions of the world and (are) a very rare visitor to Scotland.”

The ducks winter along the country’s coasts for a few months out of the year, hatching their young and feasting on mollusks, according to the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Only one or two of them are documented per year though, making them highly elusive, according to the BBC.

Morrison has been traveling to the River Ythan for the past five years in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Elvis, who was so named by locals.

But in past years, he “failed miserably,” Morrison wrote in a Facebook post.

This year, he heard Elvis had returned and thought “right let’s try again” before heading up to the river, which flows into the North Sea.

He staked the bird out for two nights, yet saw no signs of him, Morrison said. Then, while waiting for Elvis one afternoon, his patience paid off.

“Nothing was happening after a few hours and then he just flew past and landed across the river,” he said.

He snapped several photos of the rare visitor settled on the sandy shore, perhaps resting up before a long flight across the sea.

It “was great to finally see him,” Morrison said.

This story was originally published May 26, 2023 at 11:19 AM with the headline "‘Very rare’ creature named Elvis eluded photographer for years. He finally spotted it."