The Spectacled Eider is found along the west coast of Alaska, between Point Barrow and the Lower Kuskokwim River. They are most abundant in the Yukon Delta.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

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

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

Global Range: (20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)) Nesting occurs along the arctic coast of Siberia from the Chukotka Peninsula west to the Yena Delta, and in North America discontinuously along the coast of Alaska, historically from the Nushagak Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island north to Barrow and then east nearly to the Yukon border (Alison 1994, Petersen et al. 2000). Present distribution in Alaska is broken into two disjunct populations; one on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta and another on the North Slope (Balogh and Antrobus 2000). There is also a recent record of a single nest on St. Lawrence Island (S. Stephensen pers. comm., cited in Balogh and Antrobus 2000). The Russian breeding range is concentrated around three river deltas: the Yena, the Indigirka, and the Kolyma (Petersen et al. 2000). Postbreeding migration coorridors are offshore in the Bering, Chukchia and Beaufort seas (Petersen et al. 1999).

There are four principal molting and staging areas, along the coasts of the Chukchi, Beaufort, and Bering seas: two off coastal Alaska (Ledyard Bay and eastern Norton Sound) and two off coastal Russia (Mechigmenskiy Bay and the area between Indigirka and Kolyma deltas) (Petersen et al. 1999, Petersen et al. 2000).

In winter, all three breeding populations congregate in very large, very dense flocks in small pack ice openings in the Bering Sea south of St. Lawrence Island, an area of about 50 by 75 kilometers (Fraker and Karlson 1997; Petersen et al. 1999, 2000; Larned et al. 1995, cited in Balogh and Antrobus 2000). USFWS (2001) designated critical wintering habitat encompassing 73,650 square kilometers.

These ducks are sexually dimorphic.  With wings folded, the adult male duck is 255-267 mm long, while the female is 240-250 mm. The weight is approximately 1.63 kilograms for males and 1.6 kilograms for females.

The spectacled eider differs from other eiders in that its feathers extend down to the nostrils on the bill. This bill is bright orange on males and blue-gray on females. Both sexes have bright yellow feet. Male eiders, however, have a black chest and pale green head. They are best distinguished by their white patches around the eyes, which are encircled by black feathers to give the appearance of spectacles. Female are drab in comparison. They are brown with black discontinuous streaks and bars of brown. The females also have patches round the eyes, but they are light brown.

Range mass: 1600 to 1630 g.

Length: 53 cm

Weight: 1432 grams

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater
• Marine

The breeding habitat of the spectacled eider is generally near shores, lakes, and deltas along the coast of Alaska. The ducks prefer lowland tundra with small ponds and close proximity to the salt water. They require high grasses to build the nests. The non-breeding habitat is uncertain.

Terrestrial Biomes: tundra

Aquatic Biomes: coastal

Comments: Nesting occurs primarily in lowland wetlands on coastal tundra; these are usually large (> 1 kilometer diameter), shallow bodies of water that flood after snowmelt and have well-developed emergent and shoreline vegetation. These are termed 'laydas' in Russia. On Alaska's North Slope, dominant plants in the nesting wetlands include the aquatic grass Arctophila fulva and/or the sedge Carex aquatilis; Mare's-tail, Hippurus sp., is often a submergent component (Balogh 1997).

Away from breeding areas, this species is pelagic or occupies coastal marine waters; in winter it inhabits small openings in pack ice (Petersen et al. 1999). Presumably, nonbreeding birds remain at sea year-round until they attempt to
breed at age two or three (USFWS 2001).

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

Locally Migrant: No. No 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.

This eider migrates between breeding areas, where it arrives in late May or June, and wintering areas in the Bering Sea south of St. Lawrence Island (Petersen et al. 1999); postbreeding migration corridors are offshore in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas, with movement from inland areas to sheltered coastal waters in late August-early September prior to departure out to sea (Soothill and Whitehead 1978). Males depart nesting areas before females and young, which depart Beaufort Sea coast mostly by 20 September (Johnson and Herter 1989).

Following breeding, males from all three breeding areas molt and stage at three different sites: in Mechigmenskiy Bay, eastern Chukotka Peninsula; Ledyard Bay, Alaska; and the area between the Indigirka and Kolyma deltas, Republic of Sakha. Females nesting on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta molt and stage primarily in eastern Norton Sound, Alaska, whereas those nesting on the Alaskan North Slope molt and stage in Ledyard Bay and Mechigmenskiy Bay.at Ledyard Bay and Mechigmenskiy Bay (Petersen et al. 1999).

The ducks are omnivorous. The majority of their diet includes mollusks, such as Razor clams. They also feed on terrestrial and freshwater plant material. Juveniles have been found to eat caddis fly larvae. The spectacled eider rarely dives and is seen mostly dabbling for food.

Comments: Diet includes benthic mollusks and crustaceans obtained in shallow (less than 30 meters deep) waters, also pelagic or free-floating amphipods that are concentrated along the sea water-pack ice interface, regardless of water depth (see USFWS 1992). Food items on the coastal breeding grounds include freshwater mollusks, small crustaceans, insect larvae, grasses, berries, and seeds (Terres 1980, Soothill and Whitehead 1978, USFWS 1992).

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 1 - 5

Comments: This species is represented by three major nesting regions, two in Alaska (Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and another larger, more diffuse one on the North Slope) and one very large population in Russia (Alison 1994).

There are four principal molting and staging areas: two off coastal Alaska and two off coastal Russia (Petersen et al. 1999, Petersen et al. 2000).

In winter, all three breeding populations congregate in small pack ice openings in a relatively small area in the Bering Sea. This could be regarded as a single occurrence.

100,000 - 1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Late winter/early spring surveys in the Bering Sea provide an estimate of total world population of at least 330,000 birds in 1997 (Petersen et al. 1999). Larned and Tiplady (1999, cited in Balogh and Antrobus 2000) estimated the Bering Sea wintering population (and thus perhaps the world population) at 374,792 birds (95% confidence interval 371,278-378,305).

Recent estimates of breeding populations: more than 140,000 nesting birds in Siberia (J. Hodges and W. Eldridge, cited by USFWS 1996; Fraker and Carlson 1997); 9,488 +/-1814 breeding individuals in northern Alaska (Larned et al. 1999, cited in USFWS 2001); and 8,000 breeding individuals on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Balogh and Antrobus 2000). Nesting density is much higher in the Y-K Delta than in the nesting area in northern Alaska, which covers a much larger area (USFWS 2001).

In winter this species congregates in huge, dense flocks in small openings in sea ice (Petersen et al. 1999). At other times, it flies in small compact flocks, usually singly, in pairs, or in small groups, rarely more than 50 individuals (Soothill and Whitehead 1978). Territoriality does not extend beyond the immediate nest site.

Average lifespan

Status: wild: 106 months.

Breeding generally occurs on the Alaskan coast and in northeastern Siberia. Pair bonds form at the beginning of each breeding season, during which there is constant contact between members of a pair. These bonds break immediately after the breeding season is over. To initiate breeding, females perform inciting movements and calls. Males respond by performing ritualized displays that include exposing the blackened chest.  Nesting occurs in the grass flats or on the periphery of tundra ponds. The nest is built by the female and is lined with grass stems and a large amount of down. Once eggs are laid, the female is very protective of the nest and will often be extremely hesitant to leave, even allowing people to touch her. Clutch sizes average 4.5 eggs and range in number from one to eight. An egg is laid every other day. Incubation lasts for approximately 24 days while the fledging period lasts for 53 days. Drakes are able to mate when they are two years old.

Behavior:

Average eggs per season: 4.5.

Average time to hatching: 24 days.

Average fledging age: 53 days.

Eggs are laid in May-July (mainly June). Nest initiation dates on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta ranged from 16 May to 22 June (1991-1995; Grand and Flint 1997). Clutch size is 3-9. Incubation, by female, lasts about 24-28 days, mainly mid-June to mid-July. Young are tended by female, first fly at 50-53 days. Fledging generally occurs in late August. Early nests are generally more successful than late nests (Grand and Flint 1997). On the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (1991-1995), nest success varied from 73 percent in 1991 down to 18 percent in 1994; it reached 76 per cent in 1995 when Mew Gull numbers were reduced (Grand and Flint 1997). In optimal habitat, several pairs may nest in a fairly small area. See Terres (1980), Harrison (1978), and Alison (1994). Average life spanof adult females in western Alaska is more than 4 years (Petersen et al. 2000).

The spectacled eider is uncommon. This is mostly due to the small location of where the bird is found. The bird population has been reported as declining in the past. To counteract this decline there have been attempts to raise the birds in captivity, but these efforts are limited by the difficulty of obtaining the eggs during the arctic summer. Spectacled eiders were first hatched in captivity in 1976.  The major concern for the bird now is determining the location of the non-breeding habitat. This is important to know because the habitat of this bird could be unintentionally destroyed, especially if it is in a very concentrated area.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N2B - Imperiled

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Breeds over a fairly large area in coastal Alaska and the arctic coast of northeastern Siberia; concentrates in very few, very large flocks during molt and in winter, making the species vulnerable to threats such as oil spills and entanglement with fishing gear; global population in the late 1990s was estimated at approximately 375,000; breeding population on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta declined by about 96% in the 1970s and 1980s; cause of the decline is uncertain; more recently the trend in Alaska has been more or less stable; current threats include lead poisoning, subsistence harvest, changes in food resources, and possibly heavy metal contamination.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Comments: Population trend for the Y-K Delta nesting population has been stable to slightly increasing over the last 10 years (USFWS 2001). Based on USFWS survey data, the breeding population on the North Slope of Alaska did not show a significant decline throughout most of the 1990s. The downward trend of 2.6 percent per year is bounded by a 90 percent confidence interval ranging from a 7.7 percent decline per year to a 2.7 percent increase per year (USFWS 2001).

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 70%

Comments: The estimates of minimum total wintering population given by Petersen et al. (1999) and Larned and Tiplady (1999, cited in Balogh and Antrobus 2000) suggest that the global population has not changed dramatically in the two decades 1977-1997. However, during that time, aerial surveys and nest plot studies both indicated that a significant decline in the breeding populations occurred on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta. There, populations plummeted 96% in 20 years (Stehn et al. 1993, Balogh and Antrobus 2000), and at one study site nesting decreased by 75% during the period 1969-1992 (Ely et al. 1994). It is unknown whether the Alaskan North Slope breeding population is at, below, or
above historical population levels (USFWS 2001).

No quantitative evidence exists for the Russian breeding population, but it was thought to be declining (Collar et al. 1994).

Degree of Threat: B : Moderately threatened throughout its range, communities provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure of the community over the long-term, but are apparently recoverable

Comments: Causes of the decline are not well understood (USFWS 2001). Lead poisoning, caused by ingestion of spent lead shot, has been documented in this species on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Lead poisoning from ingestion of lead shot has reduced annual survival of adult females by at least 34% in some locations in western Alaska (Grand et al. 1998). Use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting has been prohibited throughout the United States since 1991; enforcement of the ban (initiated in western Alaska in 1998) should gradually reduce this threat.

Predation by foxes, large gulls, and ravens on the breeding grounds may be increasing in areas where populations of these predators are enhanced by the year-round food and shelter provided by human activities and garbage dumps. We will probably never know what role predators played in the decline of eiders on the Y-K Delta, but as Y-K Delta goose populations rebound, any negative affect of predators on eider populations is, hopefully, diminishing (USFWS 2001). There is no reason to suspect that predator pressure on eiders has increased over historical levels on the North Slope, except perhaps locally near human habitations and oil production facilities (USFWS 2001).

Subsistence hunting probably did not cause the observed decline of eiders on the Y-K Delta, but it might be hindering or preventing recovery (USFWS 2001).

Complex changes in fish and invertebrate populations in the Bering Sea may be affecting food availability for spectacled eiders during the 8-10 month nonbreeding season. Spectacled eiders may also be affected by other shifts in the Bering Sea ecosystem, by commercial fisheries, and by environmental contaminants at sea. Direct interactions with commercial fisheries does not seem to be a problem (USFWS 2001).

The habit of this species to concentrate into very few, large, molting and wintering flocks makes it vulnerable to threats such as oil spills, bilge pumping in molting areas, and entanglement in fishing gear (Petersen et al. 1999, Petersen et al. 2000).

Humans have hunted the spectacled eider in the past. Eskimos have stated that this is the best tasting eider. The pelts and eggshells have also been used for decorative purposes. Another benefit of the eider is the esthetic value that comes from seeing such an unusually colored bird.