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Common Eider

Status Common transient, fairly common in summer. Breeds. Nests on numerous islands along the coast. Winters in large numbers, estimates of up to 1500 having been recorded on some Christmas Bird Counts. In addition, many large flocks pass by in spring, when enormous "rafts" may be seen generally between mid-March and mid April. Large fall movements are generally from late September to mid-October.

Description Length: 56-66 cm. Adult male: Cheek, throat, neck, back and breast all white; crown, flanks, belly, centre of rump, uppertail and undertail coverts black; patch on either side of rump white; black crown divided posteriorly by a white median line; green on back and sides of head; legs, feet and bill greenish yellow; frontal processes from base of bill yellowish green. Adult female: Mostly brown, barred with black; belly sooty brown; legs, feet and bill greenish gray.

Breeding Nest: On the ground, composed of grass and vegetable debris, lined with down from the bird's breast. Sometimes it is well concealed but at other times it is in the open. Usually in colonies of various sizes and, in the writer's experience, always on islands. Eggs: 4-6, usually 5; greenish olive.

Range Breeds from Alaska, the Canadian Arctic islands and Greenland, south to James Bay and along the Atlantic coast to Maine; also widely distributed in northern parts of the Old World. Winters along coast in the southern parts of its breeding range and somewhat further south.

Remarks Eiders are strong, heavily built ducks that live along our coasts throughout the year. Seeming to scorn the protection afforded by inland bays and harbours, they resort in fall and winter to the waters off the outer islands and exposed headlands, where they feed by diving. Although their food is made up largely of marine animal life, they are, nevertheless, highly esteemed as a table bird by the shore-hunters who endure severe hardships in winter in order to shoot what they call "sea ducks."

Over water, they usually fly low and in long line-formation with slow wing-beats. When undertaking extended flight overland, as in migration, they fly high and often form an uneven semicircle, the front ranks massed with long wavering lines trailing at the ends. Such flocks pass over Wolfville with marked regularity during October, coming from Minas Basin and taking a southwesterly course, at heights of about 200 m.

Only at nesting time are they likely to be seen about the inshore islands where they come to rear their young. Soon after the young are strong enough, they are led to the outer shoals. At such times it is not unusual to see one or more females followed by a group of young made up of several broods, suggesting that the care and responsibility for their safety is being shared.

Two subspecies occur here seasonally and are common. Somateria mollissima borealis, the more northern subspecies, arrives along our coast in late autumn, lingering until at least late March. The race that breeds and summers here is Somateria mollissima dresseri, but stragglers probably remain throughout the winter and mingle with those of their northern relatives. The frontal processes of the bill are pointed at the inner ends in S. m. borealis and rounded in S. m. dresseri.