In early June 2023, I saw a small flock of Common Eiders (the largest sea duck in the Northern Hemisphere, renowned for their soft and insulating down, and a bird I have become very fond of) with at least six ducklings in Rockport, Massachusetts. The day after that, I went to look for Eiders a little further north in New Hampshire and southern Maine, suspecting that I might see more ducklings there, and saw more than I expected...larger flocks with at least one hundred ducklings, in groups of 30+ along the coast. This was by far the most Common Eider ducklings I had ever seen at one time.
First, a few pics of the Common Eiders I saw in Rockport. While a small group of hens with two ducklings was coming in to shore, two other hens were taking four ducklings (which looked smaller than the other ones) on a picnic excursion to a small buoy in the harbor. Apparently Eider ducklings sometimes dive to retrieve prey off of buoys, as well as rocks…at least the kind of buoys to which boats are tied, which stay in one place (unlike buoys attached to lobster pots, which are frequently moved) and collect periwinkles, marine algae and other prey for ducklings.
In Maine the next day, the ocean was mostly calm but with sporadic large waves. It was a little nerve-wracking watching the waves break repeatedly over the ducks, which were close in to the rocky shore (the ducklings can forage more easily in shallow water, and the adults act like dabbling ducks temporarily to feed in the shallow water themselves). They seemed to be finding a lot to eat, which I’m guessing is why they were lingering there despite the turbulent water. The turbulence was probably also helping to stir up prey.
I took the following two short videos on my phone and they aren’t great quality, but I’m including them because they show the surroundings and/or waves better than my third video. Don’t watch these two videos if you will find it too stressful to watch ducklings nearly getting washed into rocks by waves...I don’t think any of the ducklings got hurt, although of course I can’t be sure. They reminded me of motorized corks, the way they kept popping up and propelling themselves forward.
The next video, which I took with my camera, is almost nine minutes long (feel free not to watch it if it’s too long)...I didn’t shorten it much because this was such an extraordinary scene (at least to me) which I might never see again—at least not with this many ducklings! A few things you might notice: the little splashes when the baby Eiders dive for food; some Common Eider drakes who joined the commotion (I’ve never seen them hanging out with the babies and hens before); and the slightly different sizes and colors of the ducklings (I think the darker brown ducklings might be female ones, but I’m not sure about that). I took the last part of the video at Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine, where I saw a few more Common Eider hens and ducklings, and one lone Harlequin Duck.
The most interesting part, to me: at 3:24, one of the hens gestures with her wing(s) in a way that I have never seen before, and all the ducklings gather in single file and move further away from the shore and rocks, along with the other hens. I’m convinced (until someone knowledgeable about Eiders tells me otherwise) that she was letting them know that dinnertime was over, and directing them to start heading for safer water.
Some still pics from that same day…
I went back to the same area in southern Maine two weeks later. I saw almost as many Eiders with ducklings as before, although more spread out into smaller groups. Some of the ducklings looked like slightly older ones now, and it looked like there were also some new batches of small ones.
The most interesting behavior I saw this time was that of a single hen with one duckling which looked older than the others. The two of them were off on their own close to the rocks, and then were joined by several other hens and lots of small ducklings. The first hen was pecking/biting at any small duckling that came near her! Common Eider hens often show strong maternal instincts, and act as aunts to ducklings which aren’t their own...in this case, that instinct seemed to be directed towards protecting just her one lone duckling (maybe she had more which had been lost...the first year of life for Eider ducklings is extremely precarious). Some pics from that day, in mid-June...
A 1 ½ minute video I took of the Eiders that day...
It’s 73°F and partly cloudy here on the North Shore of Massachusetts this morning, with thunderstorms expected later. We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately (although mostly light rain, and intermittently, with beautiful skies in between).
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