Eider

 ( Ducks ) 

The eiders () are large Mergini in the genus Somateria. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

The of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and —they have given the name to the type of quilt known as an eiderdown.

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Taxonomy The genus Somateria was introduced in 1819 to accommodate the king eider by the English zoologist William Leach in an appendix to John Ross's account of his voyage to look for the Northwest Passage. The name is derived from Ancient Greek : sōma "body" (stem somat-) and : erion "wool", referring to down feather.

James A Jobling (2025). 9781408125014, Christopher Helm. . ISBN 9781408125014

Steller's eider ( Polysticta stelleri) is in a different genus despite its name.

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Species The genus contains three Extant taxon species.

Two undescribed species are known from , one from Middle Oligocene rocks in Kazakhstan and another from the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, United States. The former may not actually belong in this genus.

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See also The Barrow Duck-In, a 1961 protest against game preservation laws in Alaska, when many eider ducks were shot out-of-season to provoke mass arrests.

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