The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large
sea duck
The sea ducks (''Mergini'') are a tribe of the duck subfamily of birds, the Anatinae. The taxonomy of this group is incomplete. Some authorities separate the group as a subfamily, while others remove some genera. Most species within the group sp ...
that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
North America and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...
to breed in June and July. They lay four to seven eggs in a scrape on the ground lined with grass and down.
Taxonomy and etymology
When he first described the king eider in 1758, in the 10th edition of his opus
Systema Naturae,
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
assigned it to the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Anas'', along with the rest of the
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
s.
In 1819,
William Elford Leach
William Elford Leach FRS (2 February 1791 – 25 August 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist.
Life and work
Elford Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of an attorney. At the age of twelve he began a medical appre ...
moved it and the other large eiders to the genus ''
Somateria
Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quil ...
'', where it has remained since.
It is very closely related to the other members of its genus, and is known to
hybridise with the
common eider
The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...
.
Despite its very large range, it is
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
.
The genus name ''Somateria'' is a combination of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words ''sōma'', meaning "body", and ''erion'', meaning "wool"; the combination (i.e. "wooly body") is a reference to the eider's famously thick, soft down.
The
specific name ''spectabilis'' is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "showy", "remarkable" or "worth seeing", a reference to the handsomeness of the adult male's
plumage.
The bird's
common name, king eider, is a direct translation of its Icelandic name.
It is called "king" because of the orange, crown-like knob above the male's
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
; the male's multicoloured plumage also suggests royal robes.
"Eider" is a Dutch, German or Swedish word derived from the Icelandic word ''æður'' (meaning eider), itself derived from the Old Norse ''æthr''.
Description
The king eider is a large sea duck, measuring in length with a
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...
of .
Males are, on average, heavier than females, with a mean weight of for males and for females.
An individual bird's mass can vary considerably from season to season—from as little as to as much as .
Like all eiders, the species is
sexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
; the male is slightly larger
and, in breeding
plumage, much more colourful than the female.
The male is unmistakable with its mostly black body, buff-tinged white breast and multicoloured head. The head, nape and neck are a pale bluish grey. The cheek is pale green. The bill, separated from the face by a thin black line, is red with a white
nail
Nail or Nails may refer to:
In biology
* Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail
* Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...
and a large, distinctive yellow knob. Some
tertials
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...
are curved up and form "spurs" along the back.
The female (occasionally colloquially referred to as a "queen eider")
is a warm brown colour overall, slightly paler on the head and neck. The
feathers on her upperparts and flanks are marked with blackish
chevrons
Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to:
Science and technology
* Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines
* Chevron (anatomy), a bone
* '' Eulithis testata'', a moth
* Chevron (geology), a fold in rock l ...
, while those on her neck and head bear fine black streaks. She has a buffy spot at the base of her bill and a buffy eye ring which extends into a downward curving stripe behind her eye.
Her bill is variously described as black
or grey, and her legs and feet are greenish grey.
Juvenile birds are greyish brown. Late in their first autumn, young males moult into a darker plumage, with white on the breast and rump; it takes them three years to achieve full adult plumage.
Habitat and range
The king eider is
circumpolar
Circumpolar may refer to:
* Antarctic region
** Antarctic Circle
** the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
** Subantarctic
** List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
** Antarctic Convergence
** Antarctic Circumpolar Wave
** Antarctic Ocean
* Arctic ...
, found throughout the
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
.
It breeds on the Arctic coast of Alaska, Canada, Greenland,
Svalbard and Russia, using a variety of
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...
habitats.
It
winters in arctic and subarctic marine areas, most notably in the Bering Sea, the west coast of Greenland, eastern
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and northern
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
. Wintering birds can form large flocks on suitable coastal waters, with some flocks exceeding 100,000 birds. It also occurs annually off the northeastern
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
and
Kamchatka
The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...
.
Behaviour
Food and feeding
The king eider's foraging strategies change depending on the season. For much of the year, it is at sea; there, it dives for
benthic invertebrates. During the breeding season, it does more of its foraging on freshwater lakes and ponds, where it dabbles, feeding primarily on small invertebrates plucked from the surface of the water.
It feeds on mollusks, crustaceans like king crabs, and on sea urchins, starfish and sea anemones.
Breeding
The female builds a
scrape nest on the ground, usually near water. She lines it with vegetation and
down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator an ...
s from her own body. She lays a
clutch of , which she alone
incubates for 22 to .
The young are raised collectively by the females.
Voice
The male's song is a quavering, dove-like cooing, transcribed as ''croo-croo-croo''
or ''hoo-hoo-hooo''.
The female makes a variety of low clucks,
grunts and growls.
Longevity
The oldest known king eider was a female that lived at least 18 years 11 months. She was
ringed (banded) as an adult south of
Gambell, Alaska
Gambell ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Гамбелл) is a city
in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on St. Lawrence Island, it had a population of 640 at the 2020 census, down slightly from 649 in 2000.
History
''S ...
in 1940, and shot in 1958 in
Utqiagvik, Alaska
Utqiagvik ( ik, Utqiaġvik; , , formerly known as Barrow ()) is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the ...
.
Conservation and threats
Due to its large population and vast range, the king eider is listed as a species of
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
.
The king eider is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (
AEWA
The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Conventio ...
) applies.
As eggs and young, king eiders have many predators, including
glaucous gull,
common raven
The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...
,
parasitic jaeger
The parasitic jaeger (''Stercorarius parasiticus''), also known as the Arctic skua, Arctic jaeger or parasitic skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migratory species that breeds in Northern Scandinavia, Scotland, Iceland, ...
and
Arctic fox
The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...
.
Traditional uses
The king eider, or ''qengallek'' (pronounced
ə.ˈŋaː.ɬək in
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
, is a regular source of fresh meat in the spring. They begin their migration past the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in late April and are hunted in great numbers. In May, several hundred thousand king eiders pass Point Barrow in northern Alaska on their way to Alaskan and Canadian breeding grounds.
Gallery
File:King Eiders.jpg, King eiders (male and female) in natural habitat in Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
wildlife refuge
File:Somateria spectabilis (King Eider - Prachteiderente) - Weltvogelpark Walsrode 2012-15.jpg, The conspicuous head of a male
File:Somateria spectabilis (King Eider - Prachteiderente) - Weltvogelpark Walsrode 2012-43.jpg, The gait of a king eider at Weltvogelpark Walsrode
Weltvogelpark Walsrode, known as Walsrode Bird Park or Jubs in English until 2010, is a bird park located in the middle of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany within the municipality of Bomlitz near Walsrode in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany ...
(Walsrode Bird Park)
File:King Eider RWD.jpg, Female at Alaska Sea Life Center, Seward, Alaska
Somateria spectabilis MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.27.3.jpg, ''Somateria spectabilis'' - MHNT
References
Cited works
*
*
*
*
*
*
Identification and ageing
*
*
*
*
External links
King eider text, map and photographsa
Oiseaux.net*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q207846
king eider
The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high la ...
Birds of the Arctic
king eider
The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high la ...
king eider
The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high la ...
Extant Pleistocene first appearances
Holarctic birds