Spectacled Eider

Somateria fischeriOrder: ANSERIFORMES Family: Geese and Ducks (Anatidae)

Codes: Common Name: SPEI Scientific Name: SOMFIS ITIS Taxonomic No.: 175161

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Spectacled Eider

Spectacled Eider: Smallest of the Eiders, has orange bill, white upperparts, black underparts, breast, sides, black pointed tail, yellow-green head and large white "goggles" bordered with black. White feathers on the upper mandible extend past nostril. Rapid direct flight in straight line formation.

● Song: "hoo-hoo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Spectacled Eider: Feeds by diving into muddy waters of coastal estuaries for crustaceans, mollusks, and plant material.

● Breeding & nesting: Spectacled Eider: One to eight olive buff to green eggs are incubated 24 days by female in a nest of plant material lined with large amounts of down, built very close to the edges of tundra ponds.

● Similar species: Spectacled Eider: Common Eider has a white breast and black crown. King Eider has large orange bill shield. Both lack "goggles"

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with steady wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Spectacled Eider: Found along the arctic coastal plains of Alaska, Russia, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Prefers open sea and tundra. The entire population winters in the Bering Sea in great open areas of packed ice.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationDeclining, Uncommon and local

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight51.2 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America