The Icelandic Eider

01/01/1995

The eider do not migrate to warmer areas but survive the harsh winters in the North Atlantic. Perhaps that is why nature has provided the eider with down that has more insulatingqualities than any other bird down. The dilm shows eider "farming", a unique form of harvesting the down without harming the birds. The eider the most numerous of all ducks and geese in Iceland, counting more than half a million individuals. They return year after to a well kept colony, the biggest counting more than 6000 pairs. The female eders are seen lining ther nests with down which they pluck from their bodies. The down is collected after the clutch has left the nest.