The King Eider is a large diving sea duck. It is 18–25 inches (45.7–63.5 cm) in length with a wingspan of about 28–36 inches (71–91 cm). It weighs about 2.6–4.6 pounds (1.2–2.1 kg).
The male has a black back, a light blue head, pale green cheeks, and a white chest and belly. He has a reddish-orange bill with an orange plate outlined in black on his forehead.
The female is cinnamon-brown with black bars. She has a black bill and no shield on her forehead. The female king eider looks very similar to the female Common Eider, but she doesn’t have the long, sloping forehead of the common eider.
Immature males look like females, but they have a white patch on their chest and an orange bill.
The King Eider is found in the tundra during the breeding season. In the winter, it is found in shallow coastal areas.
The King Eider is a diving duck and can dive over 100 feet (30.5 m) in search of prey. In the summer, the King Eider eats aquatic insect larvae, crustaceans, and plant matter. In the winter, it eats mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms.
The female King Eider lays 2–7 eggs in a shallow depression on the tundra lined with down and grasses. She incubates the eggs for 22–24 days. The male leaves the nesting area when the female begins incubating the eggs.
The female rarely leaves the nest during incubation. The female’s coloring is perfect camouflage. If she is threatened, she stretches out over the nest to try to blend in with her surroundings.
The King Eider migrates in huge flocks both during the day and at night. They can fly at speeds of up to 40 mph (64.4 km/h).
The down feathers of the King Eider are very soft and thick, and are good insulation from cold ocean waters, but they are not collected and used in pillows and quilts like the down of the Common Eider because the King Eider nests in remote locations that are hard to get to.
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The King Eider does not breed in New Hampshire, but it winters in the state’s coastal waters.
The King Eider’s range is circumpolar (found around the polar regions), and it breeds all along the Arctic Circle. In North America, it breeds along the Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska.
On the East Coast, it winters from Labrador south along the Atlantic Coast.
On the west coast, it winters along the coast of Alaska.
The King Eider is also found in Russia and Scandinavia.
