Mangoverde :: World Bird Guide :: Ducks, Geese and Swans :: Common Eider

Common Eider Somateria mollissima

Described by: Linnaeus (1758)
Alternate common name(s): Pacific Eider, Eider
Old scientific name(s): None known by website authors

Photographs

Rockport, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA - Mar 16, 2003 © Glen Tepke  Rockport, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA - Mar 16, 2003 © Glen Tepke  Chebucto Head, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, Canada - Mar, 2002 © Richard Stern  Brier Island, Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada - Date unknown © Richard Stern  Brier Island, Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada - May, 2003 © Richard Stern 
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Range

Nearly Holarctic; Circumpolar;
(1) Northern Pacific in ne. Siberia from Chaun Bay, New Siberian Is., Wrangel Is., ne. Kamchatka, Karagin Is. and Commander Is. s. to the Sea of Okhotsk and e. on Bering Sea islands and Arctic nw. North America in the Aleutians, nw. Alaska and n. Canada e. along coasts of n. Yukon and nw. Mackenzie to Bathurst Inlet, Banks Is. and w. Victoria Is.
Winters in seas off Kamchatka s. to the Aleutians and sc. Alaska e. to Glacier Bay.
(2) Arctic nw. Canada (Keewatin, Southampton Is., s. Ellesmere Is., Cornwallis, Devon Is., Somerset Is., Baffin Is., n. Quebec (Ungava Bay) s. to about Hamilton Inlet, Labrador), w. Greenland, Iceland, and Franz Josef Land.
Winters in seas off Iceland, w. Greenland, w. and s. to the ne. United States.
(3) Atlantic North America from ne. Canada s. from about Hamilton Inlet, Labrador to Newfoundland, n. shore of the lower St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and ex. ne. United States (Maine).
Winters in seas s. to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the ne. United States (coastal New England).
(4) N. British Isles (n. Ireland s. to Walney Is. off the w. coast and Coquet Is. off the e coast, Scotland and nw. England), the Netherlands (Vlieland, West Friesian Is.), nw. Germany (Northern Friesian Is.), Denmark, Norway, along the Baltic Sea coasts of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland and the Arctic coasts of Spitsbergen, ne. Russia (w. Novaya Zemlya) and w. Siberia (Kola Peninsula, Kanin Peninsula, Vaygach Is.). Small isolated colonies exist in nw. France (s. Brittany).
Winters in seas s. locally to coastal nw. Europe in six main locations White Sea-Barents Sea, w. coast of Norway, Baltic Sea-Kattegat-w. Jutland, Waddensee off the Netherlands and nw. Germany, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland s. in n. France e. to Denmark and Switzerland. A few birds winter in c. Europe and nw. Mediterranean region.
(5) Coasts of Hudson Bay and James Bay.
(6) Faeroe Is., Shetland Is., and Orkney Is. ___________________________________________________________________________________
North America n. of Mexican border;
Summer: Aleutians, coastal sw., w. and n. ALK, n. YUK, MAC, KEE (Mellvile Peninsula, Banks Is., Victoria Is., s. Ellesmere Is., s. Davon Is., n. Somerset Is., Southampton Is.), Hudson Bay in ne. MAN, n. ONT, nw. and e. QUE (Anticosti Is.) NFD, n. and s. NSC, e. NBR, ne. MAE and recently s. to n. MAS;
Winter: Aleutians and w. ALK, se. Hudson Bay (Belcher Is.), e. LAB, NFD, e. QUE, NBR, PEI, NSC, e. MAE, e. NHP, e. MAS (off Chatham), RID, e. CON, ex. se. NYK (e. Long Island).

Videos

No videos are available for this species

Sounds

Location unknown - Date unknown Source: ETI BioInformatics

References

Clements, James F. Birds of the World: A Checklist. Vista, CA: Ibis Publishing Company, 2000.

Comments/Errors

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