Living in the Baltic Sea

Habitat
Along the coastline, in the winter time the Common Eider move further south and out towards the North Sea.
Food
The favorite foods are mussels and these birds can dive down to depths of 20 meters to catch these. The mussels are swallowed whole and the shells are then crushed in their stomachs and excreted. When eating a crab, they will remove all of its claws and legs and then eat the body in a similar fashion.

Reproduction
Age: 2 years old for the female and 3 years for the male
Season: April
Number of eggs: 4-6

Female Eiders return to breed on the same place where they were hatched. The nest of moss, seaweed, sticks and down is usually placed in a protected area. When the female’s ovaries start growing, her weight increases as she builds up a fat reserve for the time sitting on the gray-green eggs, for 25-30 days, normally one batch per season. The heavy mothers are unable to fly if there is no wind. Shortly after the eggs are laid the males leave. The young ones can leave the nest as soon as they have dried off. They can swim and find their own food right away. After about 2 months they are able to fly. The mortality during the first year is high. To protect their young from predators, the females stay in groups.

Human impact and Status
The females down has for long been harvested for filling pillows and quilts. In more recent years eider down has been largely replaced by down from domestic farm-geese and synthetic alternatives. Although true eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity, eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.

The number of common Eider in the Baltic Sea area is growing due to increasing  nutrition levels in the water which has made the mussel population denser - the Common Eider's favorite food. CLOSE