Common eider

Scientific name: Somateria mollissima

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Males are strikingly patterned with black underparts, white breast and back, and a pale green nape; females are cryptic brown with fine barring. Both sexes have a distinctive sloping forehead profile and relatively large, wedge-shaped head.

Size and weight

Males: 1.6–2.0 kg, 55–71 cm body length; females: 1.4–1.8 kg, 50–67 cm body length.

Habitat

Common eiders inhabit northern coastal marine environments, favoring rocky shores, shallow bays, and ice-edge waters from subarctic to arctic latitudes. They breed on low-lying tundra and coastal islands with access to open water year-round.

Distribution

Common eiders breed across high northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, with populations in northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Russia; winter range extends southward along ice-free coasts and large inland water bodies.

Diet

Common eiders are benthic foragers feeding primarily on mussels, cockles, snails, and other mollusks; they also consume crustaceans and marine vegetation, with availability varying seasonally by water temperature and ice cover.

Behaviour

Eiders are highly gregarious, forming large rafts and flocks that move between feeding and resting grounds; they are strong, fast fliers and highly aquatic, spending most time on water and diving to shallow depths for food.

Hunting tips

Glass open water leads, ice edges, and protected bays where flocks congregate; approach by boat using cover of ice floes or irregular coastline to minimize silhouette. Eiders flush readily so approach should exploit low light and wind-driven noise to close distance; they hold tight in loose pack ice and respond to decoys placed at active feeding locations.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 6 countries in Huntify.

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.