King Eider

Somateria spectabilis

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 large duck of Arctic coastal waters, the King Eider is one of North America's most spectacular waterfowl species. Highly gregarious for most of the year, it forms prodigious flocks during spring migration, sometimes exceeding 10,000 individuals.

Cool Facts

• The King Eider forages on sea beds up to 25 meters (82 ft) deep.
• The female King Eider alone attends the nest. When an intruder is present, the female sits low on the nest with her head flattened on the ground. She sits tightly on the eggs and sometimes can be touched or picked up off of the nest.

• The female King Eider does not feed very often during the 22-24 day incubation period. One female did not leave her nest for seven days before being flushed by an arctic fox.

Description

• Size: 47-64 cm (19-25 in)
• Weight: 1200-2100 g (42.36-74.13 ounces)

• Large, stocky duck.
• Male bold black-and-white with brightly colored head: black body, white chest, light blue crown and nape, greenish face, and bright red-orange bill with large round orange knob outlined with black.
• Female brown with black barring.

• Eyes dark brown to black.

Sex Differences

Breeding male has colorful plumage and strikingly enlarged red-orange bill. Outside of the breeding season sexes are similar, but male has blackish wings with white patch on forewing, while female's wings are plainer and brown. Male is slightly larger.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: White neck and chest. Yellowish buff wash over upper breast. Mostly black body. White sides of rump. Large white patches on forewings. Forehead, crown, and nape pearl blue. Cheeks iridescent pale green. Bill bright red with white tip; large yellow or orangish swollen knob at base of upper bill. Feathers stick up as two small triangular black sails on back. Legs bright yellow, with dusky webs and black nails.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Resembles female in being brownish, but has blackish wings and white forewing patch. Bill duller than in breeding; lobe smaller and with dark brownish spots.

Female

Mostly deep reddish brown, barred with black. Feathers on sides and flanks have black crescent or U-shaped black bars and dark centers. Bill is gray, and not enlarged like the male's, with a rounded edge of feathering at the bill base. Feet greenish gray to yellowish, with dark webs.

Immature

Immature like adult female. First-year male similar to female, but has pale chest, a light eyeline, and an unswollen, orange or yellowish bill.

Similar Species

• Male Common Eider has a white back. Female Common Eider is very similar to female King Eider, but has a long, flat sloping forehead, while 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 while Common Eider's are mostly straight.

Sound

Male makes a low, soft, somewhat dovelike "croo croo croooo." Female's various vocalizations include croaks and grunts.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds along the Arctic coasts of Canada, Alaska, and Russia, and in lesser numbers in northern Scandinavia.

Winter Range

Winters in the Bering Sea and in the north Atlantic from Labrador to Newfoundland. Occurs casually further south along the Atlantic Coast and in inland North America. Old World populations winter in the northeast Pacific and in the White Sea.

Habitat

Nests in various tundra habitats, generally in low marshy areas. Winters in marine environments near coastlines or on open water shallow enough to allow for foraging at the bottom.

Food

Aquatic insect larvae, crustaceans, and plant matter in summer. In winter, feeds on a wide variety of marine animals, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms, as well as algae.

Behavior

Foraging

During the breeding season, feeds by tipping up, probing, or diving, depending on water depth. In winter, most commonly 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 olive-buff.

Clutch Size

2-7 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

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

Conservation Status

Some evidence of possible recent population declines, especially in western North America. No specific conservation measures yet taken.

Other Names

Eider à tête grise, Eider remarquable (French)
Eider real (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Suydam, R. S. 2000. King Eider (Somateria spectabilis). In The Birds of North America, No. 491 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.