More than 100 common eiders, Maine’s largest native ducks, returned to the mouth of the Blue Hill Falls in early winter, and stayed there again this year. That’s surprising, since eiders are shy and there have been significant disruptions in that area due to replacement of the bridge over the Falls. All of these big-beaked, loud-mouthed birds usually have left for their breeding grounds before the end of March.
The eiders (Somateria mollissima) are a declining species here; within the past decade, significantly fewer of them have returned each year. It’s like watching the slow death of a friend or a beloved pet who grew up with you. Each year, we wonder whether that winter will be the winter of no return, when their space in the rolling waters remains empty and silent.
The Blue Hill raft of eiders, as usual, consists mostly of females (bronze) with about 10 percent males (white and black). Binocular scans of the birds revealed no king eiders hiding in the crowd, as sometimes happens. (Images taken in Blue Hill, Maine, on February 10, 2024.)