| Common Eider | ||||||||||||||
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 Adult drake
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| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Somateria mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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 Green: breeding
Blue: winter/feeding |
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| Subspecies | ||||||||||||||
(European Eider)
(Faeroe Eider)
(North Pacific Eider)
(North Atlantic Eider)
(Hudson Bay Eider)
(American Eider) |
The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large (50-71cm body length) sea-duck, which is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters. The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of Birds Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability
The eider's nest is built close to the sea and is lined with the celebrated eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast. This soft and warm lining has long been harvested for filling pillows and quilts, but in more recent years has been largely replaced by down from domestic farm-geese and synthetic alternatives. Although true Eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity, eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.
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. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. For duck as a food see Duck (food; for other meanings see Duck (disambiguation. This duck's call is a pleasant "ah-ooo. " The species is often readily approachable.
Drakes of the European, eastern North American and Asia/western North American races can be distinguished by minor differences in plumage and bill color.
This species dives for crustaceans and molluscs, with mussels being a favored food. The common name mussel is used for members of several different families of Clams or Bivalve Molluscs, from both saltwater and freshwater habitats
It is abundant, with populations of about 1. 5-2 million birds in both North America and Europe, and also large but unknown numbers in eastern Siberia (HBW). HBW_-_Taxonomygif|right|frame|(400 × 258 pixels file size38KBMIME typeimage/gif|HBW-Page on Taxonomy]]HBW-accounts_8-082-083_copia
A particularly famous colony of eiders lives on the Farne Islands in Northumberland, Britain. The Farne Islands (also referred to less formally as the Farnes) are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands These birds were the subject of one of the first ever bird protection laws, established by Saint Cuthbert in the year 676. For the Dungeons & Dragons deity see Saint Cuthbert (Dungeons & Dragons St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c About 1,000 pairs still nest there every year. Because St. Cuthbert is the patron saint of Northumberland, it was natural that the eider should be chosen as the county's emblem bird; the birds are still often called Cuddy's ducks in the area, "Cuddy" being the familiar form of "Cuthbert".
The Common Eider is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
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Social behaviour
Eiders are colonial breeders. They nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size of less than 100 to upwards of 10,000-15,000 individuals [2]. Female eiders frequently exhibit a high degree of natal philopatry, where they return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. In Animal Behaviour philopatry is the tendency of a migrating animal to return to a specific location in order to breed or feed This can lead to a high degree of relatedness between individuals nesting on the same island, as well as the development of kin-based female social structures [3]. Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin through either biological cultural or historical descent This relatedness has likely played a role in the evolution of co-operative breeding behaviours amongst eiders. Examples of these behaviours include: laying eggs in the nests of related individuals [4] and crèching, where female eiders team up and share the work of rearing ducklings [5]. The Crèche (from French in Zoology refers to care of another's offspring for instance in a colony
Gallery
 Adult male left, female right |
 Adult male in eclipse plumage |
 Male first winter plumage. Plumage refers both to the layer of Feathers that cover a Bird and the pattern colour and arrangement of those feathers Note how similar this is to the adult eclipse plumage. |
 Female |
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). BirdLife International (formerly known as the International Council for Bird Preservation, not to be confused with Birds International) is the international conservation Somateria mollissima. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ^ Chapdelaine, G. , P. Dupuis and A. Reed. 1986a. Distribution, abondance at fluctuation des populations d’eider à duvet dans l’estuaire et le golfe du Saint-Laurent. Pp. 6–19 in Eider ducks in Canada (A. Reed, ed. ). Canadian Wildlife Service Report Series no. 47, Ottawa, ON.
- ^ McKinnon, L. , H. G. Gilchrist, and K. T. Scribner. 2006. Genetic evidence for kin-based female social structure in common eiders (Somateria mollissima). Behavioral Ecology 17:614-621.
- ^ Andersson, M. and P. Waldeck. 2007. Host-parasite kinship in a female-philopatric bird population: evidence from relatedness trend analysis. Molecular Ecology 16:2797-2806.
- ^ Öst, Markus, Colin W. Clark, Mikael Kilpi, and Ron Ydenberg, "Parental effort and reproductive skew in coalitions of brood-rearing female common eiders." The American Naturalist: January 2007
- Scientific discussion about recent hunting regulations on Greenland
External links
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology-Common Eider
- Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas-Common Eider
- Common Eider videos on the Internet Bird Collection
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