The eiderdown is a species that deserves to be known by hunters since it has recently reached, during its migrations, the beautiful Italy, leaving everyone surprised by its corpulent and nice line.
Being a five-star hunter also and above all means knowing nature; for this reason today we are exploring an exponent of the natural world that not everyone knows: the eider. Scientifically known as the somateria mollissima it is a corpulent creature, a sort of cross between a large duck and a small goose. It has a large beak that closely resembles a wedge and the dimorphism between the sexes is remarkable: the male has a black and white plumage that turns green in the nape, while the female is colored an intense brown. His body is no more than 71 centimeters long and his call, heard even once, is recognized forever.
If you have never heard of this creature, do not worry about it: it lives on the northern coasts of Europe, North America and Eastern Siberia, stays during the nesting in the Arctic and winters further south in temperate areas where it also lives in flocks. very numerous, especially on coastal waters. A few years ago he went as far as reaching Italy, where there is no shortage of tasty mussel farms: in the Gulf of La Spezia he created a small colony with some breeding pairs.
It is a species that not infrequently lets itself be approached easily and that builds its nest near the sea with painstaking care. This is accomplished by the female's plumage and it is no coincidence that the eider down is particularly famous. The material is so much sought after and warm, that in the past it was expected that the nest would be abandoned by the family to take advantage of the "duvet" with which pillows and quilts were made, today a real rarity: the eider's duvet was preferred replace the goose one. Modernly, the collection of the material takes place under strict control: it can be carried out only after the abandonment of the nest by the hatching, it takes place by qualified personnel, only in particular periods and not more than twice a year.
A lover of coastal areas, the eider feeds with a certain passion for crustaceans and molluscs, but is literally crazy for mussels and even today the eiderdown populations are quite numerous both in North America and in Europe. One of the best known colonies is that of the Farne Islands, in Britain where the eider has become a symbol of Northumberland. Locally it is called Cuddy and is understood in a sense as the mascot of the area.
In addition to the common eider, there are 3 other species that deserve to be remembered: the smallest is the steller eider, protected from which the recovery is being attempted. The King of Eiders instead lives in North America and Asia and loves to spend the winter in Canada and Norway. It is characterized by a white plumage for the male, brown for the females.
Also nice the spectacled eider, the most thinking compared to the other species. It is clearly endowed with dark spots on the field, which look like glasses. It winters in the Arctic seas.
In short, an Anatidae that deserves to be known and that is pushing more and more birdwatching hunters to arm themselves with cameras and reach La Spezia to observe this unknown more closely: a not bad travel idea. Do not you think?