After the females depart with their ducklings, downy feathers from Common Eider nests are collected by people in many areas to make warm bedding and clothes. Common Eider ducklings are often cared for in creches, where multiple females care for their young together, sometimes helped by non-breeding females.


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The Common Eider inhabits Arctic and subarctic coastal marine habitats in a circumpolar distribution that includes Russia, northern Europe, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Four sub-species are recognized in Canada. Pacific Common Eider (S. m. v-nigra) nests in the central Canadian Arctic and overwinters in the ice-free regions around the Bering Sea near Alaska and Russia. Northern Common Eider (S. m. borealis) breeds on small islands throughout the coastal areas of the eastern Canadian Arctic and winters along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and southwest Greenland. Hudson Bay Common Eider (S. m. sedentaria) breeds within Hudson Bay and winters in open water leads near the Belcher Islands and off the western coast of Quebec. American Common Eider (S. m. dresseri) breeds from the south-central Labrador coast south to Massachusetts.
There are approximately 720,000 Common Eiders breeding in Canada, which accounts for roughly 31% of the global population. Approximately another 100,000 individuals breed in Alaska and migrate to or through western Canada, boosting the proportion of the global total to 36%, corresponding to a moderate degree of jurisdictional responsibility for Canada. Population estimates among the subspecies are generally quite uncertain, but likely around 50,000 for American Common Eider, 260,000 for each of the Hudson Bay and Northern Common Eider populations, and around 150,000 for Pacific Common Eider.
Only American Common Eider is regularly monitored. The Seabird Colony Monitoring Program indicates a large increase between 1970 and 2012, but reliability is low because it only samples part of the regional population. The Pacific, Northern, and Hudson Bay populations are not regularly surveyed during the breeding season, and cannot be reliably distinguished from continental trends provided by the Christmas Bird Count, which shows little change overall. The national population and American population are both considered to be within their goal ranges, while the Pacific, Northern, and Hudson Bay populations are data deficient.






Few surveys monitor Common Eider in North America. The continental Christmas Bird Count trend largely reflects the overall Canadian breeding population, but its coverage is moderate at best and precision is low, leading to low reliability and confidence in this source. Overall it shows little change relative to 1970, although for many years the population was substantially lower. The Seabird Colony Monitoring Program samples at least a moderate part of the American Common Eider population in Atlantic Canada, and has high precision. It indicates that the population increased by over 500% from the mid-1980s to early 2010s, but has declined slightly since then. No trends are available for the other populations, which are therefore considered data deficient.
The national goal for Common Eider is to maintain its population at or above the level it was at in the early 1970s, based on the Christmas Bird Count. Recent data show that the population is within its goal range.
The goal for American Common Eider is to remain at or above its recent population level, based on the Seabird Colony Monitoring Program. Trend data show that this population is currently within its goal range.
Designation | Geographic Area | Status | CITATION |
---|---|---|---|
IUCN | Global | Near Threatened | |
Wild Species | Canada | Secure |



After the females depart with their ducklings, downy feathers from Common Eider nests are collected by people in many areas to make warm bedding and clothes. Common Eider ducklings are often cared for in creches, where multiple females care for their young together, sometimes helped by non-breeding females.
Common Eider is reported throughout the year in Canada, though less often in winter when it is mostly at sea. A peak in the late summer and fall may represent staging and migration, when the eider is seen along shorelines and sometimes in freshwater habitats.






