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King Eider

Somateria spectabilis ORDER: ANSERIFORMES FAMILY: ANATIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

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King Eider Photo

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

A large duck of Arctic coastal waters, the King Eider is one of North America's most spectacular waterfowl species. Highly gregarious for most of the year, it forms prodigious flocks during spring migration, sometimes exceeding 10,000 individuals.

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Calls

  • Male calls, female clucks
    Recorded by Marian P. McChesney, William W.H. Gunn
    • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Male makes a low, soft, somewhat dovelike "croo croo croooo." Female's various vocalizations include croaks and grunts.

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Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos