Mature male common eiders have an orangish-yellow wedge-shaped bill
The common eider is not as common as the name suggests. Common eider are considered a large sea duck, occupying Arctic coastline in North America, Greenland, Northern Europe, and parts of Russia. Their breeding areas are farther north than their non-breeding areas. Their breeding range goes as far south as Maine on the East Coast of the United States. In Hampton Beach, New Hampshire (where I live) I see these interesting looking ducks every winter in substantial numbers.
These are male common eiders in the photographs in this article. The breeding age males are particularly hard to miss with their striking coloration. Although when they are immature, they can look very different, almost like the females. Mature male common eiders have an orangish-yellow wedge-shaped bill. Their eyes are masked by a black streak that runs from their bill to the back of their head. The rest of their face, chest, upper back, and front edge of their wings are white. The back half of their wings and bottom half of their front side are black. The adult males have the same color legs as their bill.
The female common eiders look nothing like the males, aside from looking like a large-bodied sea duck with a distinct head shape. The females are brown in color. They have a dark colored bill unlike the orangish-yellow bills of the breeding aged males.
If you are ever in the range of the common eider, you can often observe them from shore, as they stay very close to shore during all seasons. I see them floating in groups and alone in the same areas day to day. Common eiders are diving ducks, so you will see them disappear underwater from time to time to search for food.
[The females] have a dark colored bill unlike the orangish-yellow bills
Common eiders have abundant down feathers
How do these birds stay and raise their offspring in these unforgiving temperatures? Common eiders have abundant down feathers that act as an insulator for themselves as well as for the nests they build nearshore. Female common eider down is plucked to build a nest.
Northern people have long recognized the value in eider down, using it for blankets and pillows. Although the common eider is considered “Near Threatened” by the IUCN, there are sustainable practices that are used to farm this valuable down. The key is to wait until after the ducklings leave the nest. At that point, the down has served its purpose to the common eider and the down can be removed with no harm to the birds.
Did you know?
- The common eider is also called St. Cuthbert’s duck or Cuddy’s duck.
- Common eider can fly up to 70 miles per hour!
- Common eider’s favorite food is mussels. They swallow the muscles whole and use their stomach to crush the shells to extract the mussel meat.
0 Comments