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Steller’s eider – Polysticta stelleri
Steller’s eider – Polysticta stelleri
is a migrating Arctic diving duck that breeds along the coastlines of eastern Russia and Alaska. It is the rarest, smallest, and fastest flying of the eider species. Amongst the Inupiat Eskimo, Steller’s eider is known as the “bird that sat in the campfire”, referring to the burnt-ish color of the male’s belly.
Steller’s eider is the smallest of four eider species, with both females and males weighing 800 grams on average (1.8 pounds). They have a compact body with a relatively large head, long tail, and a long, thick bill. The males assume their breeding plumage from early winter to midsummer with a black cap, chin, throat, eye-ring, and rump, with a white head and shoulders, light-green patches behind the head and in front of the eye, cinnamon breast and shoulders marked with a prominent black spot. The wings appear to be striped white, with an iridescent bluish-purple background colour and white border.
Females are a dark to cinnamon brown with a pale-white eye-ring, similar to the lighter brown juveniles. Females also have iridescent bluish-purple speculums with a white border running the entire length of the secondaries.
It sounds like this
Recording by Andre Spencer from Xeno canto