eider
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{About|the seaducks|the river|Eider (river)|other uses|Eider (disambiguation)}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Eider
| image = Somateria spectabilis.jpg
| image_caption = King eider in breeding plumage
| taxon = Somateria
| authority = Leach, 1819
| type_species = Anas spectabilis (king eider)
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *S. mollissima
| synonyms = * Eider Jarocki, 1819{{cite book |last1= Jarocki|first1=F.P.|year= 1819| title= Spis ptaków w gabinecie zoologicznym Królewsko Warszawskiego Uniwersytetu znayduiących się, a podług naynowszego systemu ustawionych | location= Warszawa|publisher= nakł. i drukiem Zawadzkiego i Węckiego Uprzywilejowanych Drukarzy i Księgarzy Dworu Królestwa |page = 62 | language = pl}}
}}
The eiders ({{IPAc-en|'|ai|.|d|@r}}) are large seaducks in the genus Somateria. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.{{Cite book|title=Lives of North American Birds|last=Kaufman|first=Kenn|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2001|pages=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhJwsTkYkoIC&dq=somateria+down+genus&pg=PA96|isbn=0-395-77017-3|location=New York, New York}}
The down feathers of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and quilts—they have given the name to the type of quilt known as an eiderdown.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bkcwq |title=BBC Radio 4 - Tweet of the Day, Eider |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=9 July 2015 |access-date=9 July 2015}}
Taxonomy
The genus Somateria was introduced in 1819 to accommodate the king eider by the English zoologist William Leach in an appendix to John Ross's account of his voyage to look for the Northwest Passage.{{ cite book | last=Leach | first=William Elford | author-link=William Elford Leach | editor-last=Ross | editor-first=John | editor-link=John Ross (Royal Navy officer) | year=1819 | title=A Voyage of Discovery made under the orders of the Admiralty in her Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and enquiring into the probability of a North-West passage | location=London | publisher=John Murray | at=Appendix II, p. 48 | url=https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover00ross/page/48/mode/1up }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=487 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109127 }} The name is derived from Ancient Greek {{linktext|σῶμα}} : sōma "body" (stem somat-) and {{linktext|ἔριον}} : erion "wool", referring to eiderdown.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n359 359]}}
Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri) is in a different genus despite its name.
Species
The genus contains three extant species.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=30 November 2021 }}
{{Species table |genus= Somateria |authority-name=Leach |authority-year=1819 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Common eider |binomial=Somateria mollissima
|image=File:Somateria mollissima -WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, England -male-8a.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male
|image2 =File:Common eider female at Jones Beach (04713).jpg|image2-caption=Female
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia
|range-image=File:Somateria mollissima dis.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= NT
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Six subspecies |bullets=on
|S. m. v-nigrum Bonaparte & Gray, GR, 1855
| S. m. borealis (Brehm, CL, 1824)
| S. m. sedentaria Snyder, 1941
| S. m. dresseri Sharpe, 1871
| S. m. faeroeensis Brehm, CL, 1831 – Faroe Islands
| S. m. mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758)
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=King eider |binomial=Somateria spectabilis
|image=File:King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) (13667959444).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male
|image2 =File:King Eider female RWD5.jpg|image2-caption=Female
|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= northeast Europe, North America and Asia
|range-image=File:Somateria spectabilis map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Spectacled eider |binomial=Somateria fischeri
|image=File:San Diego Zoo 40 2016-05-13.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male
|image2 =File:Spectacled Eider female RWD.jpg|image2-caption=Female
|authority-name=Brandt |authority-year= 1847|authority-not-original=yes
|range= coasts of Alaska and northeastern Siberia.
|range-image=File:Somateria fischeri map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/end}}
Two undescribed species are known from fossils, one from Middle Oligocene rocks in Kazakhstan{{cite book |author=Kurochkin, E. N. |year= 1976 |chapter=A Survey of the Paleogene Birds of Asia | title=Collected papers in avian paleontology honoring the 90th birthday of Alexander Wetmore| editor=Olson, Storrs L.
|series=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |volume=27 | pages=75-86 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/352126}} and another from the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, United States.{{cite book |author1=Olson, Storrs L. |author2= Rasmussen, Pamela C. |chapter= Miocene and Pliocene Birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina. |year=2001 |title= Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina III. |editor1= Ray, C.E. |editor2=Bohaska, D.J. |series=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |volume=90 |pages=233–307 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/351988}} The former may not actually belong in this genus.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
See also
The Barrow Duck-In, a 1961 protest against game preservation laws in Alaska, when many eider ducks were shot out-of-season to provoke mass arrests.
References
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Eider (Duck)}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Odontoanserae|B.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q690813}}