Posted by Toe on January 17, 2017 at 18:36:30
What's it feeding on? Eider feed almost exclusively on mollusks, with some crustaceans and echinoderms mixed in. Their preferred prey in their natural range are mussels, but we don't have a whole lot of them down here. I've seen posts saying it's been seen feeding in the shallow muck area, so I wonder what it's catching there? Clams? Crabs? If anyone is looking at this bird, try to see what it may be feeding on. I'm always concerned when we get a northern bird that's out of it's range that it may not find adequate food and die. That was the fate of the King Eider seen in the Panhandle a couple years ago. This one seems to be doing OK so far, so hopefully it's found an adequate food source. If it doesn't, it could always fly north again!