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Spectacled eider

Somateria fischeri · Sea ducks · Ducks · Waterfowl · Migratory game birds

Spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri): Male: bold white 'spectacles' around the eye on a green head, black chest and underparts, white back. Female: mottled brown with a hint of the male's face pattern. It is protected; if you are not certain of the species, do not shoot. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Somateria fischeri
Family
Anatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Breeds in Arctic Alaska (Beaufort Sea west to Norton Sound and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta) and eastern Russia; non-breeding in the Bering and Chukchi seas.
Biology

How to identify it

Male: bold white 'spectacles' around the eye on a green head, black chest and underparts, white back. [1][2]

Female: mottled brown with a hint of the male's face pattern. [1][2]

Large round eye patch of different colour and texture is present in downy chicks and all plumages. [1][2]

Common and King eiders have a bill frontal process reaching near the eye; the spectacled eider does not, and its forehead feathering runs far forward to just behind the nostril. [1][2]

Common eider is distinctly larger and King eider slightly larger than spectacled eider. [1][2]

Compared with the common eider: Distinctly larger, bill frontal process reaches near the eye, no spectacle patch. [1][2]

Compared with the king eider: Slightly larger, bill frontal process reaches near the eye, no spectacle patch. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Safety The spectacled eider is protected and resembles species that are hunted. Identify every bird before the shot; if you cannot be certain, do not shoot.[1][2]
  • Identification Confirm a spectacled eider before you act. Compared with the common eider: Distinctly larger, bill frontal process reaches near the eye, no spectacle patch.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Breeds in wet coastal tundra with shallow ponds; otherwise at sea, often among pack ice. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Small compact flocks; huge dense flocks in openings in sea ice in winter [1][2]

Dives longer than most diving ducks; eats mollusks and crustaceans at sea [1][2]

Summer tundra diet includes aquatic insects, sedges, grasses and berries [1][2]

Migrates offshore over the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Not a quarry species

North Ground does not treat this species as quarry: it is published so it can be told apart from the game species it resembles, and Hunt never offers it. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Conservation and protection

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Breeds in Arctic Alaska (Beaufort Sea west to Norton Sound and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta) and eastern Russia; non-breeding in the Bering and Chukchi seas.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. National Audubon Society · reviewed 2026-09-30

    National Audubon Society