Gently Down by danob
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Description
I was tucking in my grandson with a nice Eider Down quilt and he wanted to know what sort of bird was used for the feathers! Typical child logic then wanted to know if they were extinct if all the poor Ducks were used for this!!
Good question I thought, but when looking it up not bad news!
The eider duck is native to the Northern hemisphere, and can be found in many Northern nations. The male of the species is black and white, while the female is colored in shades of brown. Both ducks are very stocky, and have wedge-like bills which are quite distinctive. When eider ducks settle down to nest, they pull out their insulating down to line the nest. After abandoning the nest, the eiderdown is available for harvest.
Not only is eiderdown harvesting not harmful to the birds, it actually helps them. In nations which harvest significant amounts of eiderdown, there are large regions set aside for the ducks to nest in. These protected areas also shelter other wetland species. The ducks are not hunted or harassed, and tend to be rather outgoing and friendly as a result. However, the painstaking harvest process for eiderdown does make it more expensive than other comparable products.
Comments (39)
romanceworks
They do give us beauty to look at and wonderful comfort to feel. A lovely shot. CC
MedTran39
Beautiful capture of this lovely duck!
flora-crassella
very nice bird! Wonderful photo!!!!
3x3
sweet shot x
kaward
Great shot, he looke quite dapper and refined. It would be Mrs Eider that has her nest feathers taken to keep us warm, leaving enough to keep her eggs warm too!
Octaganoid
I've never seen one of these ducks before either. Thanks for sharing Dan.
carlx
Wonderful and very lovely duck, my friend!!!
erlandpil
Wonderful and very lovely duck Agree erland
jeroni
Splendid composition and colors my friend
ElizaB
Beautiful capture. Your narrative reminded me of the dusky pink satin eiderdowns my sister and I had as children...thanks for rekindling the memory
kenwas
Fine work indeed.
evensteven
Another excellent work my friend!
chudo121
A gorgeous species, and yeah...not to cheap comapratively :D I am curious how they get the down from them without "harming" them i mean, if someone yanked out all my hair, after i killed them i think it would hurt:P
virginiese
very cool shot and thanks for the informations
schonee
Very Beautiful shot! Thanks for sharing too.
BorisB
A brilliant composition!!
HERBshines
I guess the elephants are fine, How to U get down off an Elephant, U don't, U get it off a Duck......BRAVO!!!!another fine foto.
marybelgium
super !
taurus
Stunning image, beautiful colours & wonderful clarity.
adrie
Beautiful photoshot, excellent capture.
RocksLady
Klasse Bild 5++++++++
delaorden_ojeda
Beautiful ! looks so relaxed and quiet, Dan. Nice capture, excelent details and color, bravo Dan !
durleybeachbum
Did you see the programme with Simon King et al where a child recognised them as Duvet Duck?! Super quiet pic.
zoren
sweet...
babuci
Wonderful capture and a good info to read.
jocko500
wonderful shot
bpclarke
A splendid story and capture. Beautiful duck. I will enjoy my down pillows even more tonight. :o) Bunny
MrsLubner
When I was young and asked my dad where oil came from, he said "dinosaurs." I thought and thought, and I saw how many cars there were back then (in the mid 1950s) and asked what would we do when we ran out of dinosaurs for oil for surely the dinosaurs were big but not so plentiful as to melt into oil and be pumped out of the ground for an eternity.They had been extinct for millions of years! He told me not to worry...that the end of dinosaurs would not be seen in my lifetime. Thank about it... :-) I'm sure ducks will always have feathers and there will always be ducks... but sometimes I stop and think about the oil fields and the increased number of vehicles and the new demands on oil consumption. A pillow for every head and a quilt for every bed... I sort of wonder if there will always be pillows and quilts as we know them.
magnus073
Beautiful image Danny and the story of where the down comes from and how it is actually a good thing to gather it was super
MrsRatbag
Great shot, what a beautiful duck!