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Steller's eider

Polysticta stelleri · Sea ducks · Ducks · Waterfowl · Migratory game birds

Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri): Smallest eider, 43-47 cm, square-headed; often floats with tail cocked up. Breeding male: peachy chest, black neck ring and eye spot, green and black crest knob. 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
Polysticta stelleri
Family
Anatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Breeds in Arctic Russia and in Alaska (Arctic Coastal Plain and Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta); Alaska and eastern Siberian birds molt and winter mainly along the Alaska Peninsula; some Russian-Atlantic birds winter in Europe.
Biology

How to identify it

Smallest eider, 43-47 cm, square-headed; often floats with tail cocked up. [1][2]

Breeding male: peachy chest, black neck ring and eye spot, green and black crest knob. [1][2]

Female: plain dark brown, can suggest a female scoter or dabbling duck; note the square head and white-bordered blue wing patch. [1][2]

Wing patch (speculum) is iridescent blue-purple with white borders in all ages. [1][2]

Compared with the female scoters: Steller's female has a square head and white-bordered blue wing patch. [1][2]

Compared with the harlequin duck: Steller's eider associates with harlequin flocks; identify by the wing patch and head shape. [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 steller's 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 steller's eider before you act. Compared with the female scoters: Steller's female has a square head and white-bordered blue wing patch.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Nests on low tundra near lakes and ponds, often inland; winters at sea near rocky shores or pack-ice edges. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Sociable; flies in tightly packed flocks and feeds in compact groups, dives together [1][2]

Lone birds may join flocks of harlequin ducks or other divers [1][2]

Winter diet mostly mollusks and crustaceans; tundra diet mostly aquatic insects [1][2]

Male has a weak moan; female low growling notes [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 Russia and in Alaska (Arctic Coastal Plain and Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta); Alaska and eastern Siberian birds molt and winter mainly along the Alaska Peninsula; some Russian-Atlantic birds winter in Europe.

Biology

Sources

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

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

    National Audubon Society

  2. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe