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The world knows only four species of eider. These ducks are found exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere and are specialized for life at sea. The Steller’s eider is an odd one out because it’s suspected to have originated from hybridization between the common eider and the long-tailed duck. I saw this species last year on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia. I’ve also seen the king eider multiple times, most beautifully on Spitsbergen in 2016. I even had the chance to admire this stunning duck in the Netherlands. The common eider is easily found in the right places in the Netherlands, and I see this species several times a year.
In February 2024, Arie-Willem van der Wal, Jacob Molenaar, and I went to Estonia for a week to search for Eurasian lynx. We planned to spend four days and four nights searching for the lynx, and on the fifth day, we would look for a special duck: the Steller’s eider. Now that the first four days had gone really well, it was time for the icing on the cake!
