Editing Common eider

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Common eider
| image = Пухівка на Кінбурнській косі.jpg
| image_caption = Adult male, breeding plumage
| image2 = Common eider female at Jones Beach (04713).jpg
| image2_caption = Female
| status = NT
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Somateria mollissima'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22680405A132525971 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22680405A132525971.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Somateria
| species = mollissima
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = * ''S. m. mollissima'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])</small>
* ''S. m. faeroeensis'' <small>[[Christian Ludwig Brehm|C. L. Brehm]], 1831</small>
* ''S. m. v-nigra'' <small>[[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]] and [[George Robert Gray|G. R. Gray]], 1855</small>
* ''S. m. borealis'' <small>([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|C. L. Brehm]], 1824)</small>
* ''S. m. sedentaria'' <small>Snyder, 1941</small>
* ''S. m. dresseri'' <small>[[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 187FF99551</small>
| range_map = Somateria mollissima map.svg

| range_map_caption = Range of ''S. mollissima'' {{leftlegend|#FF9955|Breeding range|outline=gray}}{{leftlegend|#87AADE|Wintering/Feeding range|outline=gray}}

| synonyms = ''Anas mollissima'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1758}}
}}
[[File:Baltsende eiders-4961556.webm|right|thumb|Common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in the breeding season on Texel, the Netherlands.]]
The '''common eider''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|ai|.|d|@r}}) ('''''Somateria mollissima'''''), also called '''St. Cuthbert's duck''' or '''Cuddy's duck''', is a large ({{cvt|50|–|71|cm}} in body length) [[Merginae|sea-duck]] that is distributed over the northern coasts of [[Europe]], [[North America]] and eastern [[Siberia]]. It breeds in [[Arctic]] and some northern temperate regions, but [[bird migration|winters]] somewhat farther south in [[temperate]] zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters. It can fly at speeds up to {{cvt|113|km/h}}.<ref name=birds-speed/>

The eider's nest is built close to the sea and is lined with [[down feather|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 eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity—typically being marketed as [[luxury goods]]—eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.

==Taxonomy==
The common eider was [[Species description|formally named]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it with all the other ducks in the [[genus]] ''[[Anas]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Anas mollissima''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=124 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727029}}</ref> It is now placed with two other species in the genus ''[[Somateria]]'' that was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist [[William Elford Leach|William Leach]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Leach | first=William Elford | author-link=William Elford Leach | editor-last=Ross | editor-first=John | editor-link=John Ross (Royal Navy officer) | year=1819 | title=A Voyage of Discovery made under the orders of the Admiralty in her Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and enquiring into the probability of a North-West passage | location=London | publisher=John Murray | at=Appendix II, p. 48 | url=https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover00ross/page/48/mode/1up }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=30 November 2021 }}</ref> The genus name is derived from [[Ancient Greek]] {{linktext|σῶμα}} ''sōma'' 'body' (stem ''somat-'') and {{linktext|ἔριον}} ''erion'' 'wool'. The specific ''mollissimus'' is [[Latin]], meaning 'very soft'. Both parts of the name refer to its [[down feathers]].<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n258 258], [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n359 359]}}</ref>

Six subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''S. m. v-nigrum'' [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]] & [[George Robert Gray|Gray, GR]], 1855 – breeds in northeast Asia and Alaska; winters in the [[Bering Sea]] and the [[Aleutian Islands]]
* ''S. m. borealis'' ([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|Brehm, CL]], 1824) – breeds in northeast Canada, Greenland and Iceland; winters in the north Atlantic
* ''S. m. sedentaria'' Snyder, 1941 – breeds in [[Hudson Bay]] and [[James Bay]] (Canada) 
* ''S. m. dresseri'' [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 1871 – breeds in southeast Canada and northeast USA; winters around northwest Atlantic coasts
* ''S. m. faeroeensis'' Brehm, CL, 1831 – [[Faroe Islands]]
* ''S. m. mollissima'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) – breeds in northwest Eurasia; winters in northwest and central Europe

==Description==
[[File:Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) skull at the Royal Veterinary College anatomy museum.JPG|thumb|A common eider skull]]
[[File:Somateria mollissima MWNH 1023.JPG|thumb|Egg, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]]]

The common eider is both the largest of the four [[eider]] species and the largest [[duck]] found in Europe, and is exceeded in North America only by smatterings of the [[Muscovy duck]], which only reaches North America in a wild state in southernmost Texas (and arguably south Florida where feral but non-native populations reside). It measures {{convert|50|to|71|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} in length, weighs {{convert|0.81|to|3.04|kg|lboz|frac=2|abbr=on}} and spans {{convert|80|-|110|cm|in|abbr=on}} across the wings.<ref name=AAB/><ref name=Ogilvie2004/> The average weight of 22 males in the [[North Atlantic]] was {{convert|2.21|kg|lboz|frac=2|abbr=on}} while 32 females weighed an average of {{convert|1.92|kg|lboz|frac=2|abbr=on}}.<ref name=CRC/> It 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. The drake's display call is a strange almost human-like "ah-ooo", while the hen utters hoarse quacks. 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 colour. Some authorities place the subspecies ''v-nigra'' as a separate species.

This species dives for crustaceans and molluscs, with [[mussel]]s being a favoured food. The eider will eat mussels by swallowing them whole; the shells are then crushed in their [[gizzard]] and excreted. When eating a crab, the eider will remove all of its claws and legs, and then eat the body in a similar fashion.

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 ([[Handbook of the Birds of the World|HBW]]).

A particularly famous colony of eiders lives on the [[Farne Islands]] in [[Northumberland]], [[England]]. These birds were the subject of one of the first ever bird protection laws, established by [[Cuthbert of Lindisfarne|Saint Cuthbert]] in the year 676.<ref name = "Waltho"/> 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".

In Canada's Hudson Bay, important eider die-offs were observed in the 1990s by local populations due to quickly changing ice flow patterns. The Canadian Wildlife Service has spent several years gathering up-to-date information on their populations, and preliminary results seem to show a population recovery.<ref name=seaduckjv/><ref name=Henri2012/><ref name=Chaulk2012/> The common eider is the object of the 2011 documentary ''[[People of a Feather]]'',{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} which studies the historical relationship between the [[Sanikiluaq]] community and eiders, as well as various aspects of their ecology.<ref name=peopleofafeather/>

The common eider is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds ([[AEWA]]) applies.

==Social behaviour==
Eiders are colonial breeders. They nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size of less than 100 to upwards of 15,000 individuals.<ref name=Chapdelaine1986a/> Female eiders frequently exhibit a high degree of natal [[philopatry]], where they return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This can lead to a high degree of relatedness between individuals nesting on the same island, as well as the development of [[kinship|kin]]-based female social structures.<ref name=McKinnon2006/> 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<ref name=Andersson2007/> and [[Crèche (zoology)|crèching]], where female eiders team up and share the work of rearing ducklings.<ref name=Amnat/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Common eider 750pix.jpg|Adult male in [[Plumage#Eclipse plumage|eclipse plumage]]
File:Common eider juv arp 750pix.jpg|Male juvenile in first winter plumage, similar but different from eclipse plumage
File:Erfugl 1764.jpg|Female
File:Flickr - Rainbirder - Eider drake (Somateria mollissima) in flight.jpg|Male in flight
File:Eider-duck fur pelerine.jpg|Eider duck skin coat
File:Eider nestingboxes.JPG|Traditional man-made eider nesting boxes
File:Eider nest.jpg|Eider nest on the tundra in the Canadian Arctic
File:EiderCreche.jpg|Small eider creche: three adult females over six ducklings at Biddeford Pool, ME.
File:Common eider (Somateria mollissima) male eclipse plumage stretching composite.jpg|stretching
File:Somateria mollissima (Iceland).jpg|Common eider with ducklings swimming
File:Eider Drake in Snow.png|A Drake Common Eider in the Nonesuch River, Scarborough, Maine.
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=AAB>{{Cite AllAboutBirds|Common Eider |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

<ref name=Amnat>{{cite journal |last1=Öst |first1=Markus |first2=Colin W. |last2=Clark |first3=Mikael |last3=Kilpi |first4=Ron |last4=Ydenberg |jstor=10.1086/510213 |title=Parental effort and reproductive skew in coalitions of brood-rearing female common eiders |journal=The American Naturalist |date=January 2007 |volume=169 |issue=1 |pages=73–86 |doi=10.1086/510213 |pmid=17206586|s2cid=17841634 |url=http://edepot.wur.nl/43056 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name=Andersson2007>{{cite journal |last1=Andersson |first1=M. |first2=P. |last2=Waldeck |year=2007 |title=Host-parasite kinship in a female-philopatric bird population: evidence from relatedness trend analysis |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=16 |issue=13 |pages=2797–2806 |pmid=17594448 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294x.2007.03301.x|bibcode=2007MolEc..16.2797A |s2cid=5547068 }}</ref>

<ref name=birds-speed>{{cite web |url=http://www.thetravelalmanac.com/lists/birds-speed.htm |title=The World's Fastest Birds }}</ref>

<ref name=Chapdelaine1986a>{{cite book |last1=Chapdelaine |first1=G. |first2=P. |last2=Dupuis |first3=A. |last3=Reed |year=1986 |chapter=Distribution, abondance et fluctuation des populations d’eider à duvet dans l’estuaire et le golfe du Saint-Laurent |trans-chapter=Distribution, abundance and population fluctuations of the common eider in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence |language=fr |pages=6–11 |title=Eider ducks in Canada |editor-first=A. |editor-last=Reed |series=Canadian Wildlife Service Report Series |number=47 |location=Ottawa, ON |publisher=Canadian Wildlife Service}}</ref>

<ref name=Chaulk2012>{{cite journal |title=Extinction, colonization, and distribution patterns of common eider populations nesting in a naturally fragmented landscape |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |first1=K.G. |last1=Chaulk |first2=G.J. |last2=Robertson |first3=W.A. |last3=Montevecchi |date=November 10, 2006 |volume=84 |number=10 |pages=1402–1408 |doi=10.1139/z06-138}}</ref>

<ref name=CRC>{{cite book |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |editor-first=John B. Jr. |editor-last=Dunning |publisher=CRC Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8493-4258-5}}</ref>

<ref name=Henri2012>{{cite book |title=A Little Less Arctic |publisher=Earth and Environmental Sciences |first1=D. |last1=Henri |first2=H.G. |last2=Gilchrist |first3=E. |last3=Peacock |chapter=Understanding and Managing Wildlife in Hudson Bay Under a Changing Climate: Some Recent Contributions from Inuit and Cree Ecological Knowledge |year=2010 |pages=267–289 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-9121-5_13 |isbn=978-90-481-9120-8}}</ref>

<ref name=McKinnon2006>{{cite journal |last1=McKinnon |first1=L. |first2=H.G. |last2=Gilchrist |first3=K.T. |last3=Scribner |year=2006 |title=Genetic evidence for kin-based female social structure in common eiders (''Somateria mollissima'') |journal=Behavioral Ecology |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=614–621 |doi=10.1093/beheco/ark002|doi-access= }}</ref>

<ref name=Ogilvie2004>{{cite book |last1=Ogilvie |first1=Malcolm |last2=Young |first2=Steve |title=Wildfowl of the World |publisher=New Holland Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-84330-328-2}}</ref>

<ref name=peopleofafeather>{{cite web |title=People of a Feather |url=http://www.peopleofafeather.com/ |access-date=8 February 2012}}</ref>

<ref name=seaduckjv>{{cite web |title=Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) |url=http://seaduckjv.org/infoseries/coei_sppfactsheet.pdf |work=Sea Duck Information Series |publisher=Sea Duck Joint Venture |access-date=9 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907090447/http://www.seaduckjv.org/infoseries/coei_sppfactsheet.pdf |archive-date=7 September 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name = "Waltho">{{cite book | title = The Common Eider | first1 = Chris | last1 = Waltho | first2 = John | last2 = Coulson | publisher = T & A D Poyser | location = London, UK | year = 2015| isbn = 978-1-4081-5280-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=32bqBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT274}}</ref>
}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.bionyt.dk/Groenland-debat.html |title=New Greenland Government Allows Spring Bird Hunt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015190057/http://www.bionyt.dk/Groenland-debat.html |archive-date=15 October 2012 |url-status=dead}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Somateria mollissima}}
{{Wikispecies|Somateria mollissima}}
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Common_Eider.html Common Eider Species Account] – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161023214151/http://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/wildlife-research-conservation/statewide-bird-monitoring/breeding-bird-atlases/bba2/find-a-bird/(id)/264 Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas – Common Eider]
* {{InternetBirdCollection|common-eider-somateria-mollissima}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181002055535/http://maineseaduck.com/ Eider Duck Hunting] information and pictures.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcxGusc-9U YouTube video of Eider eating a crab]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180304044050/http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Somateria_mollissima/Somateria_mollissima.htm Feathers of Common Eider (Somateria molissima)]
* {{BirdLife|22680405|Somateria mollissima}}
* {{Avibase|name=Somateria mollissima}}
* {{VIREO|Common+Eider}}
* {{Xeno-canto species|Somateria|mollissima|Common eider}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q26696}}
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[[Category:Somateria|common eider]]
[[Category:Holarctic birds]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|common eider]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|common eider]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]