The Alaska SeaLife Center has successfully bred threatened Steller’s eiders in captivity for what appears to be the first time in North America. 

The Alaska breeding population of Steller’s eiders is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to significant reductions in nesting range.  On the Arctic Coastal Plain near Barrow where the population is most plentiful, Steller’s eiders probably number in the hundreds; on their other traditional home in the Yukon Delta, possibly in the tens.  

“This successful event shows that we have the capability of breeding Steller’s eiders in captivity at the SeaLife Center facility,” says University of Alaska Fairbanks/Alaska SeaLife Center Eider Program Manager, Dr. Tuula Hollmen. “We have taken one big step forward in developing methods and capacity to support recovery efforts for this species,” adds Hollmen.  

Partners in the eider studies and captive breeding program include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dry Creek Waterfowl of Washington, and the North Slope Borough of Alaska. 

Steller’s eiders face multiple threats in the wild including predation of eggs and ducklings, contaminant exposure, ingestion of lead shot left over from hunting, habitat changes, harvesting, food limitations, and collision with human made structures.

Steller’s eiders have also met with poor breeding success in Alaska over several years.  Even in Barrow, the core breeding area for the Alaska breeding population, the eiders have not been found to nest every year.   Since 2005 the Center has been learning how to increase success in wild nests through captive breeding experiments.   

Knowledge gained through successful breeding at the Center may aid in captive breeding and in planning for establishing genetic reservoirs of birds.  Knowledge derived from breeding also will help researchers better pinpoint the most pressing threats to wild eiders.

A Patient Journey to Egg and Duckling

Mike Grue, aviculturist at the Alaska SeaLife Center was performing his daily checks on the Steller’s eiders on the morning of June 6th when he discovered the olive-green eider egg in one of the breeding pens for the eiders.  Soon he was asking fellow aviculturists if someone was trying to play tricks on him.

While the finding of the eider egg was surprising for caretakers, it also was expected after years of patient day to day testing of hypotheses and methods for breeding.  “After four years of professional work, we knew the viable egg would come someday,” says Hollmen. “But the day the egg came was still a welcome, happy day.”

Steller’s eiders eggs are approximately the size and weight of an extra-large chicken egg.   There are few established protocols for captive health care, husbandry or breeding in regard to Steller’s eiders. 

Center staff attempted a variety of techniques to breed the eiders including providing space to single pairs, encouraging flock environments, mimicking a spring migration by moving birds at particular times, and providing a variety of nest materials similar to those found on the eiders’ tundra home.  

Researchers at the Center worked with both wild and captive birds.   Solo’s mother was raised in captivity at the center, which may have made it easier for her to breed in the familiar captive surroundings.  By providing nest areas about 8 inches off the ground, avian staff mimicked the raised ridges of tundra on which the ducks sometimes breed.

The mother eider is only two years old.  She met the male bird only 30 days before laying her first egg.  

Surprisingly, she laid 23 eggs total – one clutch of 15 and one of eight.   The maximum known number of eggs found in one clutch in the wild is nine.   The high productivity of the mother duck is welcome news for eider researchers as they work to discover ways to conserve wild populations.  

Center researchers also discovered that foster care was viable.   The mother duck did not demonstrate an inclination to care for the duckling, and the duckling was fostered to an adult female that was willing to adopt her.  

“It was one of our research goals to determine whether a duckling could be fostered to non-laying females,” says Cline. “This was an unknown.”  

“We have been thrilled about the successful fostering,” says Hollmen.  “As far as we know, it has not been done before with eiders, and the success holds promise for adding methods to our tool box.”

Steller’s eiders typically weigh under 2 pounds, or between 600 and 900 grams.  Males have white heads with greenish tufts and small black eye patches, a black back, and white shoulders.   Females are mottled dark brown.