Editing King eider (section)

== 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 zone|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.<ref name="Oppel" /> It feeds  on mollusks, crustaceans like king crabs, and on sea urchins, starfish and sea anemones.

=== Breeding ===
The female builds a [[bird nest#Scrape|scrape nest]] on the ground, usually near water. She lines it with vegetation and [[down feather]]s from her own body. She lays a [[clutch (eggs)|clutch]] of {{nowrap|2–7 eggs}}, which she alone [[Egg incubation|incubates]] for 22 to {{nowrap|23 days}}.<ref name = "AllBirdsLife"/> The young are raised collectively by the females.<ref name=BOC />

=== Voice ===
The male's song is a quavering, dove-like cooing, transcribed as ''croo-croo-croo''<ref name = "Kear"/> or ''hoo-hoo-hooo''.<ref name = "Ogilvie"/> The female makes a variety of low clucks,<ref name = "Ogilvie"/> grunts and growls.<ref name = "Kear"/>

=== Longevity ===
The oldest known king eider was a female that lived at least 18 years 11 months. She was [[bird ringing|ringed (banded)]] as an adult south of [[Gambell, Alaska]] in 1940, and shot in 1958 in [[Utqiagvik, Alaska]].<ref name="Clapp" />