St. Cuthbert's duck, Cuddy's duck
The Common eider is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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MolluscivoreA molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specializes in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods, and cephalopods. Known mo...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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WaterfowlWaterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans. They ...
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SemiaquaticSemiaquatic animals are those that are primarily or partly terrestrial but that spend a large amount of time swimming or otherwise occupied in wate...
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MonogamyMonogamy is a form of relationship in which both the male and the female has only one partner. This pair may cohabitate in an area or territory for...
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FlockingFlocking birds are those that tend to gather to forage or travel collectively. Avian flocks are typically associated with migration. Flocking also ...
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Highly socialHighly social animals are those which are highly interactive with other members of their species. They live in large groups, nest in colonies, and ...
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ColonialColonial animals live in large aggregations composed of two or more conspecific individuals in close association with or connected to, one another....
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe Common eider is both the largest of the four eider species and the largest duck found in Europe and is exceeded in North America only by smatterings of the Muscovy duck, which only reaches North America in a wild state in southernmost Texas (and arguably south Florida where feral but non-native populations reside). The Common eider is characterized by its bulky shape and large, wedge-shaped bill. The male is unmistakable, with its black and white plumage and green nape. The female is a brown bird, but can still be readily distinguished from all ducks, except other eider species, on the basis of size and head shape.
Common eiders are found throughout the northern coasts of Europe, North America, and eastern Siberia. They breed in the Arctic and some northern temperate regions but winter farther south in temperate zones. These birds prefer marine coastal waters, bays, and estuaries, and sometimes use freshwater lagoons, coastal lakes, and rivers. Nesting habitats include rocky shorelines, coastal islands, and islets.
Common eiders live, feed and travel in large flocks containing up to thousands of individuals. They feed during the day by diving to the bottom of the water to collect their food. After feeding that usually lasts up to 30 minutes per session, Common eiders move offshore to digest their food, rest and preen. In June and July, males migrate to moult in sheltered areas protected from bad weather and predators. They often move several hundred kilometres north from their breeding areas. During the moult, males cannot fly for about 3-4 weeks; by mid-September, they will be ready to return to the wintering grounds. Adult Common eiders communicate with the help of ‘kor-korr-korr’ notes. During courtship displays, males make a strange almost human-like ‘ah-ooo’ call. Females are less vocal than males; they utter hoarse quacks and ‘cluck-cluck-cluck’ sounds when defending their ducklings from predators.
Common eiders are carnivores (molluscivores). They feed mainly on crustaceans and mollusks, especially favoring mussels. The birds eat mussels by swallowing them whole; the shells are then crushed in their gizzard and excreted. When eating a crab, eiders will remove all of its claws and legs, and then eat the body in a similar fashion.
Common eiders are monogamous and form pairs that can last for years. Pair formation usually starts in autumn. The birds nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size from less than 100 to upwards of 15,000 individuals. Females frequently return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. Only a female is responsible for nest building. It is always located close to the sea and is lined with eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast. The female lays a clutch of 4-5 eggs and incubates them for about 21-24 days. Ducklings hatch precocial; they are able to leave the nest within 24 hours and feed themselves. Soon after entering the water, they can dive efficiently. Common eiders form crèching groups, where females team up and share the work of rearing ducklings. Ducklings fledge when they are around 60 days old and become reproductively mature between 2 and 3 years of age.
Extensive collecting of down of this species is thought to be the biggest threat. The soft and warm dawn of eiders has long been harvested for filling pillows and quilts. Other serious threats include starvation, hunting, collecting of eggs, human disturbance at nesting sites, and contamination by oil spills and toxic heavy metals.
According to IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Common eider is around 3,300,000-4,000,000 individuals, which equates to 1,580,000-1,910,000 mature individuals. The European population consists of 791,000-955,000 pairs. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List.
Due to their diet habits, Common eiders control populations of the prey they eat and in turn, they are also an important food source for local predators.
