— A letter to Daybreak from Catherine Holland
For the last year or so a common eider decoy has been seen up and down the CT River. What is a common eider, you might ask?
Well it is a sea duck (as in ocean-dwelling). It is very identifiable from a distance given its white/black coloration and bright yellow bill.
A real common eider.
It's fairly common on the NH coast -- but is SUPER rare in the Upper Valley. Only 8 sightings have EVER been reported in Grafton County (and all of those were during the Fall migration).
About a year ago, a birder at Wilder Dam spotted the first eider decoy. They had a strong scope with them and were able to successfully ID it as a fake. Of course they sent out the finding to some friends as a joke -- but all we saw was the picture before hopping in the car.... It wasn't until about 30 minutes later that we read the accompanying text and realized it was a fake. WHOOPS!
The fake common eider, photo by Kyle Jones.
On April 4th this year -- a local birder wrote to the Upper Valley Bird listserv that a common eider had appeared! Again, the troops arrived at the dam but those who had strong scopes were able to ID it as a fake. The decoys always appear JUST far enough that you can immediately ID it as an eider based on the black/white pattern, but unless you have a powerful scope you'd not really be able to watch its behavior and determine it was fake. Eiders tend to just sit and bob up and down in the ocean so a lack of movement is not uncommon.
Unfortunately, this correction never made it to New Hampshire Audubon and the sighting was sent out in their rare bird alert on April 7th.
The decoy as birders usually see it, photo by Catherine Holland.
Shortly after the April 4th sighting, another decoy appeared below the dam. This confirmed that there were 2 – but still all of the sightings of the fake eider had been restricted to the Wilder Dam area.
Until... the morning of April 15th when I happened to stop by Hewes Brook along River Rd in Lyme and spotted a male Eider!
For context, finding an eider in the Upper Valley is like winning the bird lottery. It is huge news. I was immediately skeptical given the shenanigans with the dam decoys – and after observing the "bird" for about 15 minutes determined it was likely a decoy as well. Of course, 3 other friends showed up to confirm throughout the day.
This means that the decoys are traveling up the CT river and the local birders are desperate to know why. Who is putting these decoys out?
We have a few operating theories.
It's a hunter trying to genuinely attract ducks. This seems to make the most sense given who typically owns decoys. However, most of the hunters I know in the area are incredibly knowledgeable about ducks and would likely realize this is NOT eider territory. Perhaps, it is wishful thinking on their part? But they’d probably be much better served by placing mallard, wood duck, or geese decoys.
It's a birder who is hoping to attract a rarity? Again... This doesn't quite make sense because the decoy is always placed in a very obscure spot that is hard to view (thus the many mis-IDs). If it is a birder … they probably know this is not likely eider territory too?