Female
Common Eider, Seahouses, Northumberland, July 2007
Common
Eider duckling, Seahouses, Northumberland, July 2007
Eider
ducklings swim over from their breeding grounds on the Farne Islands to
the beaches at Bamburgh and Seahouses where they often fall prey to
tourists and their dogs. The reason they make this dangerous journey is
the numerous small streams that run out onto the beaches - this species
loves fresh water. When I lived in the area one of the commonest "bird
emergencies" we responded to was catching and relocating "lost" Eider
ducklings. Fortunately the communal nature of Eider "kindergartens" or
creches meant that this became a fairly straightforward task - as long
as a creche of the correct age group could be found.
Male
Common Eider, Seahouses, Northumberland, July 2007
One
of the commonest questions asked by less experienced birding visitors
to the area was "what are those strange duck - they're not in my book?"
Invariably it was male Eiders such as illustrated above moulting into
thier breeding plumage.
One odd local behaviour in Seahouses harbour is that the Eiders readily
come to tourists who feed them bread. Normally this species eats crabs
and shellfish.
Brooding Eider, Heimay, Iceland,
May 2022
