Unlike some unions we know, the state of our local Common Eider union appears to be sound. For at least many decades, if not centuries, Eiders have been arriving locally for their winter vacations in late fall and leaving in early spring.
They collect into a group (a “paddling”) of hundreds in Blue Hill Bay near the mouth of the reversing falls there. Those unusual falls are between the Bay and Salt Pond, which is basically a small tidal lake.
At low tide, the Pond empties fast into the Bay through a narrow channel of whitewater. The Eiders stream into that channel to take advantage of its shallower water and dive for mollusks that are exposed by the surge and crustaceans that lose control in the fast water.
In the image above, we’re watching the Eiders beginning their parade into the channel yesterday at about 3;30 p.m. Here’s closer look at the brown female and white and black male Eiders:
Leighton Archive Image
(Brooklin, Maine)