#somateria spectabilis

[birdblues]

King Eider

[herpsandbirds]

would absolutely love to see some arctic critters, anything that thrives at below freezing temperatures don't get enough love :3

ARCTIC ANIMAL FRIENDS!!!

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis), family Anatdiae, breed in Arctic Siberia, and over winter along the Black Sea

photograph by Dick Daniels & Francis C. Franklin  

Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), family Falconidae, order Falconiformes, Greenland

photograph by Cal Sandfort

Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius), family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes, breeds in coastal areas around and near the Arctic Circle

Female court the males.

Males are duller in coloration, and care for the eggs and nestlings.

photograph by Christoph Moning

Cirrate Octopus (Cirroteuthis muelleri), family Cirroteuthidae, deep sea - Canadian Basin, Arctic Ocean

photograph via: NOAA/OE Census of Marine Life cruise to the Canadian Basin

Lumpsucker aka Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus), family Cyclopteridae, order Scorpaeniformes, found in the North Atlantic Ocean and nearby areas of the Arctic Ocean.

Females grow to be larger than the males, growing to a size of up to 61 cm (24 in) in length, and 9.6 kg (21 lb 3 oz) in weight.

The females lay eggs in nest areas established by the males on rocky outcrops. He stays and guards the eggs until hatching.

Suction discs formed by the pelvic fins allow the fish to stick to various surfaces.

Males turn bright orange or red during the breeding season. Juveniles are often greenish or other various colors.

photographs: Siamdive, Ryan Photographic, Joachim S. Maller, Haplochromis 

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), male, family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

photograph by Mike Diersing

[mutant-distraction]

The king eider (pronounced /ˈaɪ.dər/) (Somateria spectabilis) is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July. They lay four to seven eggs in a scrape on the ground lined with grass and down.

[internetdruid]

🥚

king eider! (Somateria spectabilis)

[ruttis-art]

Kyhmyhaahka (Somateria spectabilis) King eider

[earthanthem]

(via Pinterest)

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) Drake with Hen /  Paul Bratescu / Flickr

[susiestamps]

US 2015 King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)

[maximuswolf]

Most obscure album in your collection?

Most obscure album in your collection? Mine would have to be King Eider - Somateria Spectabilis. An album with a whopping 41 ratings on ProgArchives. And I am one of those 41.https://ift.tt/aRbwtOu only bought the album because a member of the Dutch band Knight Area is on it, and I love their work. The album is pretty good. Submitted January 31, 2025 at 02:38AM by ChocolateHoneycomb https://ift.tt/RuFqQcg via /r/Music

[birds-in-posts]

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)

[terranlifeform]

King eider (Somateria spectabilis) in Alaska, U.S.

Mike Diersing

[flight-freeze-frame]

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)

© August Davidson-Onsgard

[birdblues]

King Eider

[herpsandbirds]

do you have any nice alaskan birds? I've been missing my home state lately...

Alaskan Birds:

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), male, family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Alaska

photograph by William Pohley

Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri), male, family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Alaska

photograph by William Pohley

Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii), family Gaviidae, order Gaviiformes, Alaksa

photo: Ryan Askren USGS, Alaska Science Center

Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), male in breeding plumage, family Calcariidae, order Passeriformes, Alaska

photograph by Debra Herst

Emperor Geese (Anser canagicus), family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Alaska

photograph by Sergius Hannan

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis), family Fringillidae, order Passeriformes, Alaska, USA

photograph by Alan D. Wilson

Sabine’s Gull (Xema sabini), family Laridae, order Charadriiformes, Alaska

photograph by Audubon Alaska

Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), female, family Picidae, order Piciformes, found in the western US, Canada, and Alaska

photograph by Glenn Bartley

Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus), family Strigidae, order Strigiformes, found in Alaska, Canada, and the northern U.S.

photograph by Brian Sartor

Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), male, in winter plumage, family Phasianidae, Alaska

photograph via: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

[splashing-water]

Somateria spectabilis

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Somateria

Spectacled Eider, by Fastily, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Name: Somateria mollissima, S. fischeri, S. spectabilis

Status: Extant

First Described: 1819

Described By: Leach

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Galloanserae, Anseriformes, Anseres, Anatoidea, Anatidae, Merginae 

Today’s dinosaur is another group of lovely ducks - the Eiders! Eiders are large sea ducks with three living species - the Common Eider (S. mollissima), the King Eider (S. spectabilis) and the Spectacled Eider (S. fischeri). All of these birds are not threatened with extinction or near threatened, making them fairly safe as far as ecology goes. They live primarily in the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere. They have a slight fossil record indicating they appeared at the earliest around 28 - 27 million years ago (along the Rupelian - Chattian boundary of the Oligocene of the Paleogene) in Kazakhstan, at the latest around 5.3 million years ago, at the Messinian - Zanclean (Miocene - Pliocene) boundary in the Neogene of the United States. 

Common Eider by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0 

The Common Eider is a sea duck from the north of Europe, North America, and Siberia, breeding in Arctic regions and wintering in the temperate zones along the coasts. They actually make up huge flocks during the winter, with flocks consisting of up to 15,000 individuals. They breed in colonies of similar sizes, and the females come back to breed on the same island where they were hatched - which is no easy feat, as there are many, many northern islands where these birds go to breed. They are the largest species in the genus, and the largest duck known in Europe. Only the Muscovy Duck reaches larger sizes in North America. They weigh up to 3 kilograms, and they aren’t very shy birds, often easily approached by humans. They also make a human-ish call that sounds like “ah-ooo”. 

Common Eider by Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 

These birds have extremely soft and warm down, that they use to warm up their nests built in the northern, frozen seas. As such, for a long time Eider down was an extremely popular material for pillow and quilt filling. Though it isn’t used as much as in the past, using Eider down is still sustainable, by taking the down after the chicks have left the nest. They partake in cooperative breeding, and will make crèches together so that closely related females take care of each others’ chicks. They feed primarily on molluscs and crustaceans, swallowing mussels whole for food. There are probably 2 million birds alive in North America and Europe, and an unquantifiable number in Siberia. The males have distinct white and black patterning, while the females are primarily brown and mottled. 

King Eider by Ron Knight, CC BY 2.0 

The King Eider is a very visually distinctive Eider from, again, the Arctic tundra of Europe, North America, and Asia. They migrate only a little farther south in the winter, still staying in taiga and temperate regions. These are large birds, weighing up to 1.7 kilograms, so still not quite as large as the Common Eider. The males have brilliantly patterned heads with green, yellow, black, and blue striping, and a pinkish beak. Their bodies are primarily black, white, and tan. The females are brown and mottled. They have a vast range and can form flocks of up to 100,000 birds - there are so many King Eiders out there, in fact, that we��re not exactly sure what their current population is. They feed mainly on invertebrates in the ocean, though during the breeding season they will forage in freshwater. They make scrape nests on the ground lined with down feathers, and the female does the bulk of the egg rearing. They make lovely dove like cooing for their calls! 

Spectacled Eider by Laura Whitehouse, in the Public Domain 

The Spectacled Eider is our last member of the genus, known primarily from Alaska and northeastern Siberia, so it has a slightly more limited range. Named for the large eye patches on both males and females, they decidedly have extremely distinctive appearances. The females are primarily brown and mottled, while the males have distinctive green plumage on their heads everywhere but the eye, which is surrounded by white and black. They also have white and black bodies as well. They feed on mostly molluscs, though they do branch out during the breeding season, and dive primarily for food. They form breeding pairs, though females are the only ones who care for the eggs. They develop very rapidly, and are able to fly after 53 days from hatching. Unfortunately, this bird is at high risk from gas and oil drilling in the north. 

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Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eider 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_eider 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_eider 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_eider

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) © H. L. Meyer

It hatches from arctic, black, blue, brown, common, dark, difficult, enormous, extensive, fantastic, female, further, high, immature, male, mid, orange, other, overall, powdery, rare, regular, shocking, small, variable, and young eggs.

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