Common Eider

Somateria mollissima

Order ANSERIFORMES - Family ANATIDAE - Subfamily Anatinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A colorful duck of the northern seacoasts, the Common Eider is the largest duck in the Northern Hemisphere. The male's bright white, black, and green plumage contrasts markedly with the female's camouflaging dull striped brown.

Cool Facts

• The Pacific form of the Common Eider is distinct genetically and morphologically from the other forms, and may be a different species. The male has a thin black V on its chin and a bright yellow or orange bill.
• Mother Common Eiders lead their young to water, and often are accompanied by nonbreeding hens that participate in chick protection. Broods often come together to form "crèches" of a few to over 150 ducklings. Attacks by predators may cause several broods to cluster together into a crèche. Once formed, a crèche tends to stay together throughout the brood rearing period, although some of the different females attending it may leave.

Description

• Size: 50-71 cm (20-28 in)
• Weight: 1180-3040 g (41.65-107.31 ounces)

• Large, stocky duck.
• Distinctive wedge-shaped head with long bill.
• Male bold black-and-white, with black cap, white back, and black undersides.
• Female brown with black barring.

Sex Differences

Male boldly black-and-white. Female brownish with black barring.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Back, face, and chest white. Sides, belly, and tail black. Black cap. Nape greenish, sometimes with greenish line below eye. White patches on flanks. Extensive white in wings. Bill gray-green, yellow, or orange.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Overall dark brown to blackish. Pale brown stripe through eye. Breast brown with white flecking. Back feathers white with black edges.

Female

Brownish all over with black barring, especially on sides and flanks. Dark speculum in wing outlined in white. Bill pale greenish gray to olive green or dark gray.

Immature

Immature female like adult, except darker and duller, without white at front of speculum. Immature male brownish black with varying amounts of white at base of neck and breast, usually with some white on back, head mostly dark.

Similar Species

• Female Common Eider is very similar to female King Eider, but has a long, flat sloping forehead, whereas King Eider's head is rounder. King Eider's bill is darker and has a distinctively upturned gape line; Common Eider's gape runs straight across. King Eider has zigzag pattern of stripes on sides whereas Common Eider's are mostly straight.

Sound

Calls hoarse, grating and cooing sounds.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds locally on marine coasts from arctic Alaska and Canada southward to southern Alaska and Massachusetts. Also throughout northern Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters in southern Alaska, Hudson Bay, and the northern Atlantic southward to New Jersey. Also along Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Eurasia.

Habitat

Breeds on coastal islands or along ponds and lagoons near the ocean. Winters offshore near marine shoals.

Food

Aquatic invertebrates, especially mollusks, crustaceans, and sea urchins.

Behavior

Foraging

Dives to sea floor to take prey.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A scrape on the ground, usually near water, lined with vegetation and down from the female.

Egg Description

Olive or greenish, usually unmarked.

Clutch Size

1-14 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Covered in down and able to leave the nest soon after hatching.

Conservation Status

Market hunting reduced southern population in the Atlantic to near extinction by the end of the 19th century. That population currently is healthy. Arctic populations are declining.

Other Names

Eider à duvet (French)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Bellrose, F. C. 1976. Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
2. Goudie, R. I., G. J. Robertson, and A. Reed. 2000. Common Eider (Somateria mollissima). In The Birds of North America, No. 546 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.