King Eider: The Arctic's Ultimate Survivor

While most animals run from the Arctic winter, one soft, oddly gorgeous sea duck just stays. The King Eider spends the whole year on some of the coldest water on Earth, and it does not survive by being tough. It survives by timing everything to the ice. This is a full year in the life of the King Eider: the 10,000-bird spring migrations, the cooing courtship, a mother who fasts on the nest through the shortest incubation of nearly any waterfowl, pooled duckling "daycares" on freezing ponds, the 40-day stretch when the males cannot fly at all, and dives of up to 40 meters through near-freezing water to crunch clams in the dark. Enjoyed this one? More Arctic deep dives here:    / @wingsandwonders26