The Status and Occurrence of Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) in British Columbia
By Rick Toochin and Jamie Fenneman
Read the full article with photos on our Vagrant Birds page.
Introduction and Distribution
The Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is one of the widest ranging of all eider species, and is the only one to regularly occur in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere (Goudie et al. 2000). All other eider species are largely confined to arctic and subarctic regions (Goudie et al. 2000). In North America, it breeds from south-coastal Alaska and throughout the Bering Sea, including the Aleutian Islands, east across the arctic coast of Alaska and Canada to Hudson Bay, Quebec, Labrador, Newfoundland, and the Maritime provinces (Goudie et al. 2000, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). It also breeds along the coast of the northeast United States, south to Massachusetts, as well as throughout most of the islands of the Canadian arctic, north to Ellesmere Island, and along the coasts of Greenland (Goudie et al. 2000, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). It retreats south in winter, with western arctic populations wintering in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and south coastal Alaska and eastern populations wintering in Hudson Bay and along the Atlantic coast from Labrador south to North Carolina (Goudie et al. 2000, Sibley 2000). It is rare but regular on the Great Lakes, and casual inland in eastern and central North America during winter and migration (Mlodinow 1999). Outside of North America, the Common Eider also occurs in Iceland, along the coasts of northwest Europe: including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Scandinavia, and in eastern Russia along the eastern Siberian coast, Bering Sea coast, and the Kamchatka Peninsula (Brazil 2009, Mullarney and Zetterstrom 2009).
Populations of Common Eider are generally very large and stable and, due to its occurrence at lower latitudes, it is the most commonly encountered eider species in both North America and Europe (Mullarney and Zetterstrom 2009, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). The Alaskan and western Canadian arctic populations, which are the source of vagrants to British Columbia, are estimated at c. 25,500 and c. 81,500 individuals, respectively (Goudie et al. 2000); the entire wintering population in North America is estimated at between 600,000 and 750,000 individuals (Goudie et al. 2000). Despite a large global population that does not warrant conservation concern, the western arctic populations which are birds found in Alaska and the western Canadian arctic have experienced dramatic declines due to accumulation and biomagnifications of heavy metals (i.e., lead) and excessive traditional harvest (Suydam et al. 2000). For example, the number of Common Eiders migrating past Point Barrow, Alaska declined by 53% (from c. 156,000 to c. 72,500) between the 1970s and 1990s (Suydam et al. 2000). These declines have been mirrored in all three other eider species in the western North American arctic, particularly in Alaska, suggesting that the factors responsible for these declines are widespread and having significant consequences (Suydam et al. 2000). If the western arctic population of Common Eider continues to decline, it is anticipated that the frequency at which the species is detected as a vagrant in British Columbia and elsewhere along the Pacific coast will similarly decline.
The Common Eider occurs year-round in south-central Alaska, ranging east regularly to Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay; small numbers occasionally breed and winter farther east to Glacier Bay (West 2008). The species is strictly casual elsewhere along the Pacific coast of North America, where it is known from two recent records (2004, 2005) in Washington (WBRC 2012) and a recent (2004) record from northern California (Hamilton et al. 2007). Records south of British Columbia have occurred during the spring (April in Washington State) and summer (July in California; August in Washington State), and have involved several birds that lingered for weeks after their initial discovery (Wahl et al. 2005, Hamilton et al. 2007, WBRC 2012). Two independent records of ten Common Eiders at Nisqually Flats in Puget Sound, Washington in January and February 1906, which were both made by experienced observers, were rejected by the Washington Bird Records Committee (Mlodinow 1999, WBRC 2012) despite a widespread belief that the records, though incredible, are likely valid (Mlodinow 1999). These records were rejected because, unfortunately, there are no details associated with either of them (Mlodinow 1999). The records do indicate, however, that the species could potentially occur in flocks where it occurs as a vagrant (a position that is strengthened by the previously mentioned report of five “eiders” at Alkali Lake, B.C. in 1950 [Jobin 1952]). The only inland records in northwest North America outside of B.C. are from Alberta where, in addition to a single sight record at Cold Lake near the Saskatchewan border in 1993 (Mlodinow 1999), an individual of this species was recently observed during three consecutive falls at the same Cold Lake location in 2000, 2001, and 2002 (Hudon et al. 2006). The Common Eider is an accidental vagrant to British Columbia and is most likely to occur in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
