King Eider

Somateria spectabilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

King Eider, Somateria spectabilis, is a sea duck of the Arctic coasts of North America and the Palearctic, breeding in coastal Greenland, Svalbard, Russia and the Arctic coast of Alaska and Canada. Outside the breeding season it moves to marine waters as far as Kamchatka, the Aleutian Islands, Newfoundland, southern Greenland, Iceland and northern Norway. It is a large eider, and the male is notable for its black body, pale breast, blue-grey head and neck, green cheek, red bill with a white nail and yellow knob, while the female is brown and more plainly marked.

Order

Anseriformes

Family

Anatidae — Ducks, Geese, Swans

Breeding range

North America, Palearctic: coastal n, c Greenland, Svalbard (n of Norway), Russia from e of the White Sea to Chukotka (ne Russia); Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska, n slope of Canada and associated Arctic is.

Nonbreeding range

to Kamchatka (se Russia) and Aleutian Is.; Newfoundland (se Canada), s Greenland, Iceland, and n Norway