This species is listed as "near threatened" by IUCN based on serous, continued declines in Europe. Pollution and changing aquaculture practices have been blamed. The Svalbard population belongs to the sub-species S. m. borealis, which also breeds in northeast Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Franz Josef Land. It is the smallest of the 4 subspecies in North America. Adult male; bill color is bright yellow to yellow-orange. Its frontal lobes are narrow and pointed at posterior ends. Adult males have green on the head limited to a patch at the nape. Females, such as this are medium brown tinged rufous. In Svalbard the Common Eider breeds in dense colonies on small islands and in a more scattered fashion along the coast of Spitsbergen. The greatest nesting densities occur on the western and north-western coast of Spitsbergen and on Tusenyane. This population winters around Iceland and along the coast of northern Norway but a few of the Svalbard birds winter in ice-free waters off the west coast of Svalbard. About 8% of the eggs in 16% of the clutches in high density colonies are laid by other females, an example of intraspecific brood parasitism. Canon SX50 HS PowerShot