SFOS Newsletter
Fall 2007
Steller's eider duckling makes history
Courtesy of Jason Wettstein, Alaska SeaLife Center. Photos by Jason Wettstein.
UAF's Tuula Hollmen and the Alaska SeaLife Center have 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 UAF/Alaska SeaLife Center Eider Program Manager, Tuula Hollmen.
“We have taken one big step forward in developing methods and capacity to support recovery efforts for this species,” adds Hollmen.
Steller's eiders face multiple threats in the wild including predation of eggs and ducklings, contaminant exposure, ingestion of lead shot from hunting, habitat changes, harvesting, food limitations and collision with human 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 Hollmen has been learning how to increase success in wild nests through captive breeding experiments.
“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. Hollmen and her staff 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.
- Back to Fall 2007 Newsletter