Common Eider

Common Eider

Common eider (Somateria mollissima)

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The common eider, a sea duck, is the largest duck in the northern hemisphere.

Appearance:
The common eider has a distinctive long wedge-shaped bill. Males average over 2 kg. Breeding male has white face, neck, breast and back, with black crown, sides, belly and tail; nape is green (males do not attain breeding plumage until three years of age); bill is grey-green, yellow or orange. Female is brown with black barring, especially along the sides; bill is grey.

Breeding:
Female common eider alone incubates eggs for 26 days after she lays the second or third egg. Female does not eat during the incubation period and takes short breaks only to drink - hens can lose up to 45 per cent of their body mass during this period. Non-breeding females often join breeding females to help protect the young from predators.

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

Range:
The common eider breeds on marine coasts from Alaska and arctic islands to Hudson Bay and James Bay and along the east coast as far south as Maine. Winters in southern Alaska, Hudson Bay and the northern Atlantic southward to New Jersey.

Diet:
About 75 per cent of their diet is mollusks, the rest being a variety of crustaceans. Dive to depths of 20 metres to feed on mollusks and crustaceans including mussels, clams, scallops and urchins.

Status and conservation issues:
Before hunting regulations were enacted, common eider were greatly reduced in numbers in some areas. Ove r 150,000 pairs of breeding common eider ducks once thrived along Newfoundland and Labrador's coastline. Today, human activity, industry and a growing predator population have reduced their numbers to a mere 12,000 breeding pairs.  DUC's eider ini tiative aims to find out why the decline in Newfoundland/Labrador has occurred.

Interesting facts:
Largest duck in North America. The common eider is the most numerous eider. 

Eider down is one of the lightest and most effective insulators known.