Spectacled Eider Duck

The Spectacled Eider is a beautiful sea duck found on the coasts of Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The average length of this medium-sized sea duck is 49.8 centimeters for females and 52.8 centimeters for males. The female spectacled eider can be recognized by its rich brown hue with lighter brown spots of features around its eyes, as opposed to the male's white back, yellow-green head, and black body with white patches around its eyes. The males are completely mottled brown in the late summer and fall.

This species mostly consumes aquatic insects, seeds, berries, and freshwater grasses, as well as crustaceans and mollusks from shallow waters. The species' breeding population decreased by almost 96% between 1970 and 1993. The cause of the decline was climate change and the threat of oil and gas development in the Arctic Ocean.