Spectacled Eider

Spectacled Eiders are large sea ducks that spend 9 to 12 months of the year in marine habitat (Petersen et al. 1999). At sea, eiders forage on clams, polychaete...
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Spectacled Eiders are large sea ducks that spend 9 to 12 months of the year in marine habitat (Petersen et al. 1999). At sea, eiders forage on clams, polychaete worms, and other organisms on the sea floor. In winter, the world population of Spectacled Eiders group at a single site south of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in the northern Bering Sea. In the summer, the species is divided into three breeding populations; western and northern Alaska and northern Russia. A majority (> 90%) of adults nest in Russia.

In 1993, the Spectacled Eider was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and critical habitat was later designated throughout the species’ North American range. USGS research on Spectacled Eiders has focused on migration, wintering and breeding ecology, and factors involved in population status and trends.
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