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Dawn Chorus: Common Eiders on the Northeast coast [1]
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Date: 2022-08-07
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.)
Common Eider hen, Rye NH, June 2022. What’s that behind her? Zoom
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.
x YouTube Video
*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.
The tiny specks on the left are Eiders (slight zoom)
female Common Eiders with some soggy feathers, North Hampton, NH
immature male Common Eider, North Hampton, NH June 2022
A 37-second video I took of Eider hens preening on the rocks there…
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🌸Salisbury, Massachusetts🌸
Salisbury Beach State Reservation, June 2022
Salisbury Beach State Reservation, June 2022
Common Eiders love rocks, but I saw them close to this sandy shore one evening
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...
Adult female and adult (or almost adult...his bill looked duller than some, and he had only a hint of the pistachio nape of adult drakes) male at the front, followed by possibly two immature males. One of those had bigger eyes than the others. Zoom.
The second one from the left is the large-eyed one (or maybe it was just opening its eyes wider than the others?). Zoom.
The same larger-eyed one, I think
Common Eiders, Salisbury MA, May 2022
Female Common Eider, May 2022. Zoom.
🌸Gloucester, Massachusetts🌸
A July 2022 photo of the area where I saw a duckling in June...zoom
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.
The Eiders are tiny specks to the left and right, between the ship and the shore. Zoom. They’re often even closer to shore, including a group of about eight that was resting on the rocks.
Immature male Common Eider, Gloucester MA, June 2022
Female Common Eider, Gloucester MA, June 2022
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...
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Stage Fort Park, Gloucester MA
Females and immature male on rocks at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester (zoom)
View from Stage Fort Park in Gloucester. The Eiders were a little way out in the harbor, and on rocks on the other side of the vegetation on the right side (can’t see them in this pic). Zoom.
The same area a few days later...didn’t see any Eiders, just this familiar and always welcome sight. Zoom.
Canada Goose and snoozing immature male Common Eiders, June 2022. Zoom.
One place I sometimes see Eiders (this is where I saw the one below)…Gloucester MA, June 2022
Zoom
It’s a little known fact that Art Duck-o preceded Art Deco...by millions of years! (See also: Harlequin Ducks.)
I haven’t seen any Eiders in Gloucester Harbor since late June. I’m afraid this might be one reason why…
Sign from the Fourth of July still up along the waterfront walkway in Gloucester (zoom)
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.
Zoom (don’t miss the one on the left :)
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.
Halibut Point State Park, Cape Ann, MA. Zoom.
This group was accompanied by a Double-crested Cormorant. Zoom
🌸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.
Wild roses bloom all along the road next to the ocean...I took the next photos from here (zoom)
🌸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.
Common Eider duckling, Rye NH, June 2022
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...
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Uncommonly cute (zoom)
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.
There are five ducks in this picture. Do you see them? ZOOM
🌼July 2022, Rockport, MA🌼
Another pretty Common Eider hen, Rockport MA, July 2022
Where I saw that hen (off on her own...I saw a few more Eiders in the distance)
Granite Pier, Rockport MA, July 2022 Zoom
🌼4th of July, 2022🌼
Common Eider hens on Cape Ann, MA. There were more boats and people around than usual due to the holiday, and the Eiders were staying close together. At less chaotic times, I often see them more spread out...they’re very sociable ducks but seem to like to be on their own, too. Zoom
The same group of hens, Cape Ann, MA (zoom)
Nice place to look for Eiders...Stage Fort Park, Gloucester MA, July 2022 (zoom)
This is where I saw Eider hens and ducklings other years, but didn’t realize what they were
🌼mid-July 2022, North Hampton, NH🌼
Rosa Rugosa by the shore
A group of 6+ hens was dabbling in seaweed near the rocky shore (some of them were entirely draped in seaweed), and other scattered male and female Eiders a little further out on the ocean. I saw many more Eiders that day along the coast of New Hampshire, including at least eight more ducklings.
🌼later in mid-July 2022, near Rye, NH🌼
About 30 Eiders were swimming and dabbling in a pretty tight group...mostly hens, a couple immature males, and at least four ducklings. Zoom (the Eiders are specks in the center, to the left of the rocks)
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...
x YouTube Video
🌼later in mid-July 2022, Rockport, MA🌼
Rockport sky before a storm, July 2022
Immature male Common Eider...out on his own on the ocean, no other Eiders in sight. (zoom)
🌼July 28th, Rye & North Hampton, New Hampshire🌼
Rosa Rugosa near the shore, Odiorne Point State Park, Rye NH
group of Common Eiders (just off shore, in the center)...zoom
Common Eiders sleeping on the ocean (between slightly rougher water and seaweed)...there were at least 50 or 60 of them...I didn’t see any ducklings in this group. Zoom
Double-crested Cormorant and Common Eiders, including four ducklings...zoom
The same four ducklings on the rocks with their mother (or aunt maybe)...zoom
Common Eider duckling, just after it hopped out of the water and onto the rocks
🌼August 1st, 2022🌼
Rye, New Hampshire Zoom
🌼🌼🌼
Common Eider hen, Cape Ann MA, July 2022
Thanks for reading!
The floor is open. What’s happening in your birdy world?
Please contact your Senators and ask them to support S. 2372, The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. See giddy thing’s Dawn Chorus from last week about why this bill is so important. Thank you! ♥
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