King Eider

The King Eider is a striking Arctic sea duck best known for the male's ornate head pattern. Breeding males show a powder-blue crown and nape, a pale mint-green face, a black body offset by a white chest, and a large orange bill shield swollen at the base into a distinctive knob. Females are warm cinnamon-brown with crescent-shaped dark barring, differing subtly from female Common Eiders in tone and pattern.

King Eiders breed on high Arctic tundra, often farther north than Common Eiders, and spend much of the year on open ocean, sometimes far from shore, including near pack ice.

Key field marks

• Breeding male: blue-gray crown, pale green face, black body with white chest, and a large orange knobbed bill shield outlined in black
• Female: rich rufous-cinnamon with crescent-shaped (not wavy) barring, shorter bill than Common Eider without the sloped profile
• In flight, males show a black back (unlike the white-backed Common Eider male)

Similar species

The Common Eider male has a white back and a smoothly sloped bill/forehead profile lacking the bulbous shield; female Common Eiders are duller brown with finer, wavier barring and a longer, more wedge-shaped bill.

King Eiders breed on wet tundra across the high Arctic of North America, Greenland, and Eurasia, often farther inland and farther north than Common Eiders. Outside the breeding season they are highly pelagic, wintering on open ocean waters, near pack ice edges, and in some sheltered northern bays, frequently ranging farther offshore than Common Eiders.

Behavior

King Eiders are strong divers capable of foraging in deep water, sometimes diving to considerable depths to reach the seabed.

Voice

Displaying males give a soft, dove-like cooing note; females give low growling quacks.

Feeding

Mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms such as sea urchins and sand dollars, taken by diving.

Nesting

Nests on open tundra near small ponds or coastal areas, often solitarily rather than in dense colonies; females incubate 4-7 eggs alone, lined with down plucked from their own breast.