Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010: Indicator #05, Seabirds - Common Eider

The common eider, Somateria mollissima, has a circumpolar distribution breeding mainly on small islands in Arctic and boreal marine areas in Alaska (Bering Sea region), Canada, Greenland, Iceland, western Europe, and the Barents Sea region. In Russia, there is a gap in distribution along the mainland coast from the Yugorski Peninsula (Kara Sea) to Chaunskaya Bay in east Siberia. Important wintering areas include the Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea/Aleutian region, southeast Canada, southwest Greenland, Iceland, Western Europe, along the Russian coast of Barents Sea, and in the White Sea. Six or seven subspecies are recognized, of which four occur in North America