common eider

Common eiders

Eider à duvet Somateria mollissima Common Eider

A stunning bird to look at. One of the few instances when I could get close enough for a decent shot.

Zoomed in to this Hefty looking bird.

This eider was on its nest just a metre away from the footpath. Amazing how a bird that would otherwise quickly swim away is adapted to hunker down when on its nest. Apparently the scientific name somateria mollisima is derived from Greek sōma "body" and erion "wool", and Latin mollissimus...

Next stop was a shallow bay on the fjord. At low tide, it's a mudflat that attracts waders, but the tide was coming in so I got some fairly close views of Common Eiders ...

My first trip to Musselburgh after lockdown was relaxed. Great to see so many chicks. This eider family was one among many in the river. I always thought the females took care of the creches, but I noticed many groups with a male, 4-5 females and their chicks. This group had 4 females - had to...

It was bitter cold and windy the day I drove up to Frosta to see progress on a friend's house and take her out on a building break to the Tautra Bridge. Not a lot of bird variety there that day. Just hundreds of Eiders in the distance on the south side of the bridge, this one male swimming...

of that calm, cold scene on the fjord with Eiders and Scoters. I find these images quite soothing in these stressful corona-times, so I'll share two more and if you agree with me on that score than you can pick your favourite to gaze at, breathe deep, push away panic, find solutions, and count...

was at Flatholmen (flat island), halfway home from Skatval. There was a big flotilla of Long-tailed ducks way out on the fjord, but this little group of Common Eiders and Scoters was more cooperative. Sorry I'm not caught up browsing. I've spent most of the day cancelling my various...

I saw three flocks this size of Common Eiders. Two many and too active for me to count them in the field, so I took photos when the flocks were gathered tight together and pretty much all up on the surface. Our aim is to count males and females separately for all the waterbirds. Yikes! I didn't...

These birds are so bright, they stand out even on dark days. Great to be able to see them in some sunlight.

Adult male

I always enjoy watching and listening to the Eiders at one of my local spots on Walney Island in Cumbria. I spent about an hour lying on the grass at the waters edge waiting for them to come nearer. After a while several pairs came very close and I got to witness lots of interesting behaviour...

We then decided to take a trip round the headland and back the other side, hoping to find somewhere for dinner at Portpatrick. We'd only got less than mile from the cottage door, when I spotted this. So jammed on the brakes and hopped out the car. He seemed to be all on his own with no female...