Somateria spectabilis

Arctic Eurasia and n North America.

European waters (ERMS scope), Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, Irish Exclusive economic Zone, North West Atlantic, Polish Exclusive Economic Zone, Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone, Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone, United Kingdom Exclusive Economic Zone, Wimereux

North America; from Greenland to Virginia

The King Eider breeds along the northern hemisphere Arctic coasts of Europe, North America and Asia. It can be found further south during the winter, including the north-east and north-west coast of North America, on Iceland and islands north of the United Kingdom, and on the Pacific coast of Asia to the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)¹.

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) This Holarctic species is one of the most northerly nesting ducks, and also a northerly winterer (Palmer 1976). Two populations exist in North America: one winters in the eastern Arctic (Atlantic), the other in the western Arctic (Pacific) (Suydam 2000, Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). Breeding occurs along the Arctic coast and islands from northern Alaska east to Greenland, west coast of Hudson Bay, James Bay, and probably northern Labrador; Banks and Victoria islands are important nesting areas. The species also nests along the Arctic coast from northern Russia east to Chukotski Peninsula and St. Lawrence and St. Matthew Islands. Small numbers nest in northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and in northern coastal Greenland (Suydam 2000).

The nonbreeding range in the Pacific extends from from Kamchatka and the Bering Sea south to the Kurile, Aleutian, and Shumagin Islands. In the Atlantic, wintering extends primarily from Labrador and Greenland south to New England (less frequently eastern New York and New Jersey), and uncommonly in interior North America to the Great Lakes.Birds breeding in western Siberia and Scandinavia winter from the White Sea to western Norway and eastern coast of Iceland; small numbers as far south as England and Ireland (Suydam 2000). Casual nonbreeding visitors occur to points south of the normal southern limits of range (AOU 1983).

Molting areas are poorly documented but presumably are in marine environments. The western arctic population in North America molts primarily in the Bering Sea and to lesser extent in the Chukchi Sea (Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). A small number may also molt in the eastern Beaufort Sea (Johnson and Herter 1989). Satellite telemetry has identified several key molting sites: off the south and east coasts of the Chukotsk (Chukchi) Peninsula, south of St. Lawrence Island, and northern Bristol Bay (Dickson et al. 1999). The eastern arctic population is known to molt in areas of western Greenland around Disko Bay and in eastern Greenland at Clyde Inlet (Suydam 2000).

Length: 56 cm

Weight: 1668 grams

Length: 55 cm., Wingspan: 87.5 cm.

Habitat and Ecology

Systems

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater
• Marine

Depth range based on 11671 specimens in 1 taxon.
Water temperature and chemistry ranges based on 2298 samples.

Environmental ranges
  Depth range (m): 0 - 0
  Temperature range (°C): -1.592 - 6.817
  Nitrate (umol/L): 0.000 - 18.778
  Salinity (PPS): 19.313 - 32.941
  Oxygen (ml/l): 6.952 - 9.077
  Phosphate (umol/l): 0.263 - 1.855
  Silicate (umol/l): 6.744 - 37.155

Graphical representation

Temperature range (°C): -1.592 - 6.817

Nitrate (umol/L): 0.000 - 18.778

Salinity (PPS): 19.313 - 32.941

Oxygen (ml/l): 6.952 - 9.077

Phosphate (umol/l): 0.263 - 1.855

Silicate (umol/l): 6.744 - 37.155
 
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.

Comments: Seacoasts and large river valleys, vicinity of ponds and pools in open tundra, offshore along rocky coasts (winter) (AOU 1983). Nests on ground away from but not distant from water in open tundra (Palmer 1976); often in graminoid meadows within a few miles of the coast.

Rocky coasts and open ocean. Tundra and Arctic waters in summer.

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Nesters from Beaufort Sea region winter in Bering Sea and along southwestern Greenland. First large pulse of migrants arrives in north-central Alaska around mid-May, Canadian Beaufort Sea coast in early June (or late May in some areas). Hundreds of thousands may migrate past Point Barrow in a single day in late May. Development in spring of offshore lead systems in pack ice is major determinant of routing and timing of spring migration (Johnson and Herter 1989). Males make extensive migration to molting areas in early to mid-summer (see Johnson and Herter 1989 for details for Beaufort Sea region). Most have departed from Beaufort Sea region by late September, though commonly observed there later. Arrives in Bering Sea in September-October.

Comments: Eats mainly mollusks, crustaceans, and insects; sometimes eats significant amounts of plant material. Forages mostly under water. (Palmer 1976).

Mollusks mainly. Also consumes crustaceans, insects, echinoderms, insect larvae, and some plant matter.

>1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Based on the 1996 spring migration count at Point Barrow, Alaska, an estimated 350,000-370,000 King Eiders nest in northern Alaska and western Arctic Canada (Suydam et al. 2000, Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). An additional 100,000 or more eiders that winter in the Bering Sea and North Pacific nest in Russia (see Goudie et al. 1994, in Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). An average of 12,000 (between 10,000 and 15,000) King Eiders were detected annually during aerial eider breeding surveys on the Arctic Coastal Plain in Alaska over the past decade (Larned and Balogh 1997, Larned et al. 2001), suggesting that the majority of the Pacific wintering population that migrates past Point Barrow nests in western Arctic Canada (Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). The eastern Arctic population is suspected to be smaller, but no reliable breeding estimates exist (Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003). Frimer (1993) estimated the population molting in the Qeqertarsuaz/Disko area of Greenland at 15,000-20,000 during 1990-1992.

Mass starvation and low productivity can occur in years when low temperatures, ice, and snow persist in northern breeding areas (Johnson and Herter 1989). Winter flocks may include up to 15,000 birds.

Maximum longevity: 18.9 years (wild)

Eggs are laid in June-July; few nests started after 10 July. Clutch size usually is 4-6. Incubation, by female (male departs), lasts 22-24 days. Young are tended by female. Young of different broods may flock together. Females begin breeding at 2 years. Severe weather may cause widespread nest failure.

Nest is built on raised ground near the water. 4-5 eggs are incubated by the female for 22-24 days. Young can feed themselves. Several females combine their broods to watch over together.

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There are 9 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 9
Specimens with Barcodes: 10
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N3B - Vulnerable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N4B,N4N : N4B: Apparently Secure - Breeding, N4N: Apparently Secure - Nonbreeding

Year Assessed

Assessor/s

Reviewer/s

Contributor/s

Justification

History

• 2008
  Least Concern
• 2004
  Least Concern

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Large range and population size, very remote nesting habitat, nonbreeding concentrations at sea, few immediate threats.

No official conservation status.

Global Short Term Trend: Unknown

Global Long Term Trend: Unknown

Comments: Little range-wide information is available, although declines have been documented in both eastern (Mosbech and Boertmann 1999) and western Arctic populations (Suydam et al. 1997, Suydam et al. 2000). In northern Alaska and the western Canadian Arctic, the breeding population apparently declined by 56% from 1976 to 1996, based on standardized migration counts (Suydam et al. 2000). These data are corroborated by results of breeding-pair surveys in the western Canadian Arctic (Dickson et al. 1997), but results should be viewed with caution, and there is currently no breeding survey evidence indicating a decline in the Alaska population. A significant decrease in King Eider numbers in the Rasmussen Lowlands, N.W.T., was observed between 1975 and 1995 (Suydam 2000). Little information is available on the status of the eastern Arctic breeding population, but regional declines have been reported on the Melville Peninsula and Boothia Peninsula (Sea Duck Joint Venture 2003), and surveys of molting birds off Greenland suggest present numbers are only half of 1950s numbers (Mosbech and Boertmann 1999).

Major Threats

Degree of Threat: C : Not very threatened throughout its range, communities often provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure over the short-term, or communities are self-protecting because they are unsuitable for other uses

Comments: Reasons for the apparent large decline in northern Alaska and the western Canadian Arctic are unknown (Suydam et al. 2000). Annual mortality from hunting in that area ranged from 2.5 to 5.5% of the total population, but this is within the sustainable harvest limits of other sea ducks (Suydam et al. 2000). Small numbers are hunted during spring migration (Madge and Burn 1988).

This species is potentially threatened by oil spills when concentrated in large nonbreeding flocks.

Significant causes of mortality include: (1) exposure on nesting grounds (50,000 females and young perished in one season in the Beaufort Sea) (Barry 1968); (2) adult starvation during spring migration when weather conditions are severe (~100,000, or 10% of the Beaufort Sea population, died in 1964) (Barry 1968); and (3) predation, especially on breeding grounds, by Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus) and arctic fox (Alopex lagopus).

Biological Research Needs: The degree of fidelity to nonbreeding concentration sites should be determined, as should the extent of interchange between eastern and western North American populations. Reasons for the decline in northern Alaska and the western Canadian Arctic (Suydam et al. 2000) should be investigated. Impacts of oil exploration on species habitat and behavior in arctic environments are unknown and need study. Better information is needed on global point-source pollution at wintering, molting, and staging areas.

Needs: Continued protection of currently remote and relatively unaccessible Arctic breeding grounds is needed.