Birdwatching

The Spectacled Eider "Somateria fischeri" is certainly one of the most spectacular and soughtafter ducks.
The large goggles combined with the colour pattern give the bird, especiallt the male its weird expression.

Several misconceptions exist in the literature about its plumage. Fiorst, the head of the male is not green and yellow green, and others suggest, but uniform sea green.
The very short and dense feathers give it a glossy and velvety appearance which, when viewed from different angles, can appear even pale yellow green.
Secondly, the hindneck does not consist of elongated feathers, as suggested, but of grooves in the very short and dense hindneck feathers like those in the side of the neck of, Greylag Goose.

Thirdly, the underside in the male is not slaty black but deep glossy black which, again, from different angles can look slaty in appearance.
Finally, Spectacled Eider appear not at all shaggy but are very neat.

The Spectacled Eider breeds in shallow coastal tundra ponds in north eastern Siberia, from the mouth of Yana river east to Kolyuchin bay, probably on St lawrence Island, and in western , south to Baird inlet and northern Alaska east to Demarcation Poit, with the main stronghold in the Yukon and kukoowim deltas.
the US fich and wildlife service believes that the population may have declined by as much as 90% since 1971.
The western Alaska population has fallen from 50.000 breeding pairs to 2700 breeding pairs today.

The reasons for this abrupt decline are uncertain. The wintering grounds are still unknown but are believed to be somewhere in the Bering Sea on the edge of the pack ice?
In the Western Palearctic, Spectacled Eider is an extremely rare vagrant. A visit to its breeding area is very expensive, the best place and least costly, is DEAD HORSED PRUDHOE BAY? area innorthern Alaska, where you can find this bird....