Duck and dive THIS is how eider ducks get their lunch. The common eider (Somateria mollissima) flocks to the Norwegian coast in winter to surf the waves and feed in the protected bays and fjords. Pål Hermansen has been photographing the birds along Norway’s central Trøndelag coast for three years, but he is mostly working blind. To get pictures like this one, he lowers a remotecontrolled camera on a pole into the water and fires off shots as the birds dive in. This image of a male eider is his favourite shot. The birds like to snack on mussels, which they swallow whole. The shells are crushed in their gizzard and excreted in small pieces. Crabs are trickier: the eider has to tear off the claws and legs before gulping down the body. The scientific name for the bird comes from the Ancient Greek somatos, for body, erion, for wool and the Latin mollissimus, meaning “very soft”. The down feathers of the female were once used to fill “eiderdown” pillows and quilts, but these days it is more common to use either synthetic materials or down from domestic geese.
Alice Klein
Photographer Pål Hermansen www.naturepl.com
4 June 2016 | NewScientist | 25