Steller's eider

Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri) is a migrating Arctic diving duck that breeds along the coastlines of eastern Russia and Alaska. It is the rarest, smallest, and fastest flying of the eider species.

Steller's eider
Male (drake)
Female (hen)

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Polysticta
Eyton, 1836
Species:
P. stelleri
Binomial name
Polysticta stelleri
(Pallas, 1769)

Due to the extensive contraction of its breeding range, the Alaska-breeding population of Steller's eider was listed as vulnerable in 1997 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species is protected in Russia and the U.S. and is the subject of an ongoing recovery plan by the European Union and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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