Some of the Common Eiders—a most uncommon sea duck, renowned for their soft and insulating down—who wintered south of Maine didn’t follow their friends and relations to Maine or Canada or further north, but have stayed for the summer here on the North Shore of Massachusetts and our neighbor, the New Hampshire Seacoast.
Since starting to learn more about them last year for a Daily Bucket, I’ve kept getting more fond of these ducks. I feel very lucky whenever I see them, since they don’t frequent many parts of North America. In this diary I will sometimes refer to them simply as “Eiders,” although there are other Eiders (such as King Eiders, another amazing duck which is here occasionally).
I’ll organize this diary by the places I’ve seen Common Eiders this spring and summer (since the beginning of May, since I think many of the Eiders I saw in May or later have stayed).
Unlike in winter—when Common Eiders can be seen in groups of hundreds or thousands far out on the ocean—since May I’ve been seeing them close to shore, in groups of up to about twenty-five. In places with lots of boats and buoys, they seem to be mostly staying out of the way, in sheltered rocky coves. (Sadly, boats can interfere with Common Eiders’ “feeding, resting or social activities” even when the ducks do stay out of the way.)
I’ve been seeing mainly groups of adult females (who raise ducklings with support from other, non-breeding females—sometimes up to 150 ducklings—in groups called “crèches”) and immatures, with the adult males off on their own, although not always…I’ve seen some groups of all genders and ages.
One thing I love about these ducks is the array of unique patterns and colors of the immature males. Male Common Eiders molt eight times in their first three years, and can look dramatically different with every molt. The females have less eye-catching plumage, and are well-camouflaged in nesting season...but I find them very beautiful also, with their warm russet (in colder seasons) or rich cool brown colors and their glam-looking fine barring.
Common Eiders don’t start molting until August. But I noticed in May and June that they were looking soggy, at times (whereas in winter, the water rolls right off them). I’m having trouble finding info about this, but I’m guessing it’s because they have less preen oil on their feathers in warmer temperatures, and maybe less down too (females pull out their own down to make nests). Even the drakes can look a little dreary in this season, with wet streaks on their pistachio napes or their backs.
🌸 Rye, New Hampshire🌸
In early May, I saw groups of 10-30 Eiders on New Hampshire’s Seacoast. I’ve posted this shaky video I took of them before in a comment, but will post it again to give an idea of their behavior. They were still looking quite polished, and not soggy yet. They seemed a bit grouchier than usual (the Eiders I see are usually the picture of harmony*)…it wasn’t clear if they were finding much to eat, and sometimes they accidentally bumped each other into rocks (at 1:38, one of the hens wasn’t happy about that!). It was the day after a storm and the Eiders looked small against the huge waves, but they’re the largest ducks in the Northern Hemisphere. If the video is too long to watch, I put in some still pics from 2:48.
*The only other time I’ve seen Eiders being mean to each other is when adult females fight a bit over ducklings. AllAboutBirds says that male Eiders “seem to be less aggressive toward each other than in some duck species.”
I saw a group of Eiders in the same part of Rye in June, but didn’t get good pics of them.
🌸 North Hampton, New Hampshire🌸
In mid-June, I saw a group of twenty-five Eiders a bit south of Rye in North Hampton, again very close to (and on) the rocky shore. This group was mostly females, with a few immature males.
A 37-second video I took of Eider hens preening on the rocks there…
🌸Salisbury, Massachusetts🌸
In May and June, I saw small groups of Eiders at Salisbury Beach State Reservation (not a Native American reservation...the term “Reservation” is used around here for some protected natural areas), swimming close to shore or on rocks by the shore. One evening in May, a group of about ten Eiders was a few yards away from me, when I was the only person on the beach (it’s crowded now because the campground there opened for the summer). I think this group included male and female immatures and adults (or near-adults...some of the drakes’ beaks looked more taupe than yellow), because they all looked so different from each other. And one of them had unusually big eyes (at least they looked that way to me)! The immature male (I think) on the left, in the following two photos...
🌸Gloucester, Massachusetts🌸
In mid-June, I saw one single Common Eider duckling on the Gloucester MA harborfront, with four adult females. I didn’t have my camera with me, unfortunately...I looked for that duckling other days, but I didn’t see it again. Later in June I saw some more adult Eiders there.
2 ½ minutes of video I took in Gloucester in mid-June...there are sounds from boats, a playground at Stage Fort Park and a fair going on downtown in the background (one part I muted)…a pair of Canada Geese float by and make the Eiders look small by comparison...
I haven’t seen any Eiders in Gloucester Harbor since late June. I’m afraid this might be one reason why…
Common Eiders sometimes make short-distance northward migrations to find a safe place to molt (they’re flightless while they’re molting), before their southward fall migration. The Eiders in Gloucester Harbor and Salisbury Beach—which also had fireworks and more boats, lately—might have gone to the New Hampshire coast, where I’m seeing more Eiders now (in August). I’m still seeing Eiders in Massachusetts in places that I’m guessing feel safer to them.
🌸Granite Pier, Rockport, Massachusetts🌸
Several times this spring I saw lone Eiders, or a pair of them, on the ocean near a pier in Rockport. Often a pair would swim long distances around the pier at a short distance from each other, with few other birds around except for gulls and cormorants (and in May, a few Red-breasted Mergansers).
In June, I saw a small group of them near that same pier.
I caught glimpses of a few female Eiders in a cove in that same area in July, well hidden by rocks. It’s possible there are ducklings there and I just haven’t seen them.
🌸Halibut Point State Park, Rockport, Massachusetts🌸
I’ve seen groups of at least 10-15 Eiders at Halibut Point State Park. Mostly resting on rocks, and swimming on the ocean in smaller groups of three or four. Sometimes a Double-crested Cormorant was swimming near them (and perhaps bothering them, because it looked sometimes as if they were trying to swim away from it), or drying its wings near them on the rocks.
🌸Late June on the coast of New Hampshire🌸
I saw a group of Eiders (including some exceptionally striking immature males) in Rye on rocks covered in sea grass. They were resting and preening...at one point a few of them flew off when a Cormorant came by and perched on the rocks.
🌸That wasn’t all I saw in Rye, New Hampshire that day! I saw DUCKLINGS! 🌸
Common Eider ducklings are maybe not classically cute. They’re...interesting-looking...like fluffy, odd little baby dinosaurs with pretty but hard-to-see eyes. It’s hard to be what society thinks of as “cute” when you have a long wedge-shaped beak because you have to eat things like sea urchins (or pry periwinkles off of rocks, when you’re small). But IMO their behavior makes them adorable in their own way.
In a different part of Rye than where I saw that last group, I saw two adult female Eiders with at least four ducklings.
Common Eiders are diving ducks, and the ducklings—who are precocial— were diving as well as dabbling, but the mothers/aunts were only dabbling...I’m guessing to better keep an eye on the ducklings, and because this was in a shallow area near the shore...good for ducklings to practice diving, but not deep enough for the adults.
The ducklings were speedy! It was hard to keep up with them with my camera. Three-minute video...
From animaldiversity.org:
Although common eiders are capable of flight about 60 days after hatching, few young ever survive that long. Young are killed by predators, starvation, or exposure. If one duckling per couple lives long enough to make the migration flight in the fall, it is a good year. Even though this survival rate seems low, adult common eiders living in the wild have long lives, often as long as 20 years. Estimated survival rates among adults per year average from 80-95 percent.
🌼July 2022, Rockport, MA🌼
🌼4th of July, 2022🌼
🌼mid-July 2022, North Hampton, NH🌼
🌼later in mid-July 2022, near Rye, NH🌼
A couple times I saw a hen whoosh past a duckling, bumping into it a little. The ducklings seemed to take that in stride. A 43-second video I took of that group of Eiders...
🌼later in mid-July 2022, Rockport, MA🌼
🌼July 28th, Rye & North Hampton, New Hampshire🌼
🌼August 1st, 2022🌼
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Thanks for reading!
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