A wild arctic seabird gets a helping hand

The Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is a hardy and adaptable sea duck that makes its home along the rugged shores of Iceland, a common and symbolic bird to all Icelanders. While the birds spend the winter months in large colonies at sea, they habitually return to their nesting grounds each spring to lay their eggs and raise their ducklings.

Iceland's beautiful and rugged coastlines have been eider nesting grounds long before humans stepped foot on the island. Its craggy landscape provides the birds shelter from the often unforgiving climate of the North Atlantic. It also helps that Iceland was mostly predator-free until the arrival of humans. On land, the female eider will shed the down from her breast to feather her nest. The light-as-air down forms an insulating layer under the female brown plumage. It is an ideal cushion to keep her incubating eggs warm in such a harsh environment.

Eiderdown has been instrumental in keeping Icelanders warm through fierce winters for almost 1,150 years—a service Icelanders have repaid through their stewardship of eider nesting grounds.