The eider duck is a cold-loving bird that is common to Maine. This is a male of the species, and its coloring is unmistakable and beautiful. I like eiders because they seem to be more approachable than many other ducks and will often stop and pose for a photo. They’re basically hams, but hey, “if you got it, flaunt it!” And eiders definitely have it.
The female eiders are a brownish color but have the same
shaped head and bill. They are the
source of the world famous eiderdown quilts and pillows. The incredibly soft and warm down feathers
from the female breast are used in these quilts and pillows. Down feathers are the soft tiny feathers
underneath the larger and coarse outer feathers. Females pluck them out of their breasts and
line their nests with them to keep the eggs warm. These feathers are still gathered from the
nests today in Scandinavia, Iceland, and Siberia
in sustainable cycles in which the birds are not harmed. An eiderdown quilt or pillow costs a fortune,
though, and most feathered pillows and quilts you find on the market these days come from domestic
geese.
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| The unmistakable eider drake. |
Soon the baby ducks will be born. I call them “corks” because that’s what they
look like bobbing up and down in the water.
They are incredibly tiny and I am always afraid that the current will
just tear them away and drown them.
Somehow, their moms keep them in check, though. Very often, I’ll see a large group of female
eiders surrounding a bunch of tiny corks.
They work together in groups to keep the survival rate up, and that says
something about their intelligence and cooperative nature.
Eider ducks love the northern areas of the world, and you
will not find them in the south. The
majority of their breeding takes place in the arctic, but they do breed in Maine, sticking to the
cold Atlantic coastal areas. Perhaps
that’s why their feathers are so soft and warm.
They’ve had to adapt to the severe cold.
If you’re lucky enough to get an eiderdown quilt, treasure it and treat
it as the heirloom it will certainly become.
