Texas Waterfowl

Common Eider

101 APPEARANCE Breeding: Adult male Lesser Scaup have a glossy black head, neck, breast, rump, and tail. Their head peaks slightly toward the back of the crown. Their sides are whitish with varying amounts of gray. Their back is pale gray and grades to dark gray near the rump. Their belly is white. Adult females are dark brown in appearance except for a white area on the front of their head, around the bill. Their belly is white. Eye color of females is assumed to change from brown to yellow as they age. However, eye color cannot be used reliably to age females in the field. Males have a pale blue bill, and females have a bluish bill. Fall weights in Minnesota averaged 2.1 and 1.9 pounds for adult males and adult females, respectively. Lesser Scaup are often confused with Ring-necked Ducks. Females of the two species, in particular, are similar in size and appearance. However, Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks can be separated by their wings. Lesser Scaup have a broad white band along the trailing edge of their wings, and Ring-necked Ducks have gray on the lower portion of their wings. Nonbreeding: The plumage of males is muted with little sheen. Their head and neck range from drab brown to dull black, and some may have white on the forward portion of their head. Their sides are brownish, and they may have dark mottling on their belly and near their tail. The nonbreeding plumage of adult females is similar in appearance to their breeding plumage. SOURCES introduction: Walker et al. 2005; Austin et al. 2006; Corcoran et al. 2007; Anteau and Afton 2009; Martin et al. 2009. texas distribution: Hawkins 1945; White and James 1978; Esslinger and Wilson 2001; Seyffert 2001; White 2002; Lockwood and Freeman 2004; Eubanks et al. 2006; Baar et al. 2008; USFWS 2008. texas harvest: Kruse 2007. longevity: Lutmerding and Love 2011. population status: Bellrose 1980; NAWMP 2004; USFWS 2011. diet: McMahan 1970; Afton and Hier 1981; Tome and Wrubleski 1988; Afton et al. 1991; Badzinski and Petrie 2006; Anteau and Afton 2008. range and habitats: Keith 1961; Hines 1977; White and James 1978; Bellrose 1980; Weller 1988; Dubovsky and Kaminski 1992; Wormington and Leach 1992; Austin et al. 1998; Fournier and Hines 2001; Kinney 2004; Walker et al. 2005; Badzinski and Petrie 2006; Corcoran et al. 2007; Baar et al. 2008. reproduction: Hochbaum 1944; Weller 1959, 1965; Vermeer 1968; Hines 1977; Bellrose 1980; Afton 1984, 1993; Lokemoen 1991; Batt et al. 1992; Austin et al. 1998; Koons and Rotella 2003; Walker et al. 2005; Herring and Collazo 2009; Martin et al. 2009. appearance:Trauger 1974; Austin et al. 1998; Havera 1999a; Vest et al. 2006; Fast et al. 2008. COMMON EIDER Somateria mollissima There is one well-documented record of a Common Eider from Texas. It was a male taken by a hunter in the northern Laguna Madre, Nueces County, on January 8, 2007. This individual was from the population that breeds in northeastern North America, S. m. dresseri. This is the most likely subspecies to occur in Texas, as they are regular winter visitors along the southern Atlantic coast. Common Eiders breed in North America, Europe, and Asia. In North America they breed along the coasts of Alaska, Canada, southern Greenland, and the northsea ducks 102 eastern United States. From 1994 to 2003 the North American population averaged just over 1 million annually. Their numbers are likely declining. Common Eiders generally nest on islands and narrow peninsulas. Nests are found on the ground in dense coniferous forests, dense shrubs, heath tundra , herbaceous vegetation, and exposed mossy areas. Nests may be isolated or in colonies; larger colonies may involve several thousand females, and nest densities can exceed 100 per acre. Their wintering and breeding ranges are similar, although they tend to occur farther offshore during winter. Their diet includes echinoderms, crustaceans, bivalves, gastropods and herring eggs. The upper parts of adult males are white except for a thick black band on each side of their white crown. Their belly, sides, rump, and tail are black. They have a yellow to greenish bill. Females vary in color from rusty brown to brown. They are the second largest duck in North America; some Muscovy Ducks may be larger. Common Eider (adult male). Photograph by Ron Lockwood, December 3, 2011, in Provincetown, Mass. sea ducks 103 SOURCES Cottam 1939...