It looks like about 100 Common Eiders already have flown in from the sea to their annual winter home just outside Blue Hills Reversing Falls. They’ve been accumulating there this year since their scouts started to arrive in October.
We’ve taken rough counts of as many as 400 there within the past decade, but in the last two years that number seems to have been dwindling. Perhaps that’s because one of their favorite foods, Blue Mussels, is declining along our coast. Nonetheless, their return always is a welcome and reassuring (canary-in-the-mine-like) sight.
Common Eiders are our largest native ducks, growing up to 28 inches in body length. The can fly up to 70 miles per hour, but we see them mostly floating about 100 yards offshore in large white-and-black (male) and brown (female) “paddlings.”
When the tide is changing, these ducks will stream into the Falls’ fast water and dive for crustaceans and mollusks. The swiftness of the water there prevents it’s freezing and provides a winter-long feast. (Blue Hill, Maine)