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King Eider

Status Rare in winter, very rare in summer. Its occurrence was first noted by Jones (1868), who recorded a specimen taken in March 1863. Later nineteenth-century accounts added a few more specimens. About a dozen more were recorded prior to 1960, and since then there have been about 21 reports of 26 individuals. These have occurred rather evenly throughout the winter, between 3 October and 14 March, except for two evident non-breeders off Brier Island on 23 July 1971 (E.L. Mills) and a drake in courtship display in a group of Common Eiders off Seal Island on 21 May 1972 (B.K. Doane et al.). According to shore-hunters, it may be more common in winter than our records suggest.

Description Length: 53-60 cm. Adult male: Neck, shoulders and breast white; back and belly black; top of head bluish gray; cheeks greenish white; bill orange to red; large yellow-orange shield extending from bill onto forehead; legs and feet yellowish orange. Adult female: Similar to Common Eider but feathers on side of bill do not reach to nostril.

Range Breeds in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Alaska and Siberia. On the Atlantic coast, it winters south to Massachusetts but rarely beyond.

Remarks Gunners who regularly pursue the offshore diving ducks in winter occasionally take this species from flocks of Common Eiders, but as a rule King Eiders range further offshore. To the hunters along the Southwestern Shore it is known as the "comb duck" because of the strange formation of its bill. Even at long distances, the adult male of this eider can be distinguished from adult male Common Eiders by the larger amount of black on its wings and back.