Male Common Eider Photo © Patty Wainright The Boys are back, but not in any big rush. The male Common Eiders leave their mates for their molting stations in the summer, after their toddlers hit the waters running. These males now 'trickle-in' to the Backshore waters. However, as Michael notes: “As yet, [we see] none of those spectacular huge flotillas of Common Eider we saw last winter off Backshore,

Female Common Eiders (eider ducks) circle the Peaks Island public dock next to the ferry landing. They watch curiously four humans sift through dangling seaweeds. Kelp and other marine algae hang on the docksides – some kelp species growing into long fragments. The eider ducks regularly feed along the dock, picking through the marine algae for invertebrates such as crabs and mussels. Now there is competition, it seems. Female Common Eiders at dock