King Eider

    Aviornis UK

King Eider—male

 

(Somateria  spectabilis)

 

Photograph by  E.J. Peiker

The King Eider

The king eider gets its royal name from the bright orange knob above the bill and the pearly blue crown on the head of the male in breeding plumage.  His striking appearance contrasts with the female's more subtly attractive reddish-brown colour, which conceals her from predators while on the nest.

Little is known about the king eider's natural history.   A week or two after a pair arrives at its nesting pond in mid June, the female scrapes a shallow depression in the ground and lays four to five eggs.  Before long, the male returns to sea, leaving his mate to incubate the eggs and raise the brood on her own.  The young hatch within about 23 days, during which the female doesn't eat, only leaving the nest for an occasional drink of water and losing a third of her body weight.

Many mothers abandon their broods after hatching.  Other adult females remain behind, gathering the young into larger groups.  They head for the nearest body of water to feed on insect larvae and plants.

The king eider is native to Canada, Russia, Alaska, and Greenland.  In North America, it nests throughout the Canadian Arctic Islands, as well as along the arctic coast from Alaska to Ungava Bay, Quebec.  Birds nesting in the west winter in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.  Birds nesting in the east winter primarily off Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland.