Common Eider
Monhegan Island, Maine
This large duck is a common sight around seacoasts throughout the northern hemisphere, and can be confiding and approachable. Eiders have a long association with people—for at least as far back as the early Middle Ages, Northern Europeans gathered the down from their nests (the hens pluck soft inner feathers from their breasts to pillow their eggs) and similar traditions existed in the Aleutians. An alternate British name for this species is Cuddy Duck, or St. Cuthbert’s Duck. Saint Cuthbert lived in Northumbria in the 7th century, and was known for his love of birds and beasts. A passage in Bede describes otters coming out of the sea to dry and warm the saint’s feet, and other traditions describe his putting the eiders of Inner Farne under his protection.