| Summary: | The Eider Somateria mollissima is a commonbreeding species in the Baltic. In 2008, Ottossonet al. (2012) estimated that the breeding populationof Eiders in the archipelagoes of the four Swedishcounties of Kalmar, Östergötland, Södermanlandand Stockholm was in the order of 103 000 pairs,whereas the breeding population around Gotlandwas about 6000 pairs. The distribution of breedingEiders in several regions is well known fromextensive surveys (cf. Gezelius 2012, Sveriges OrnitologiskaFörening 2009). On the other hand, thedistribution of staging Eiders in early spring hasnot been studied on a regional level before.During 2009‒2011, extensive offshore surveyswere undertaken in the Baltic (Nilsson 2012, Skovet al. 2011). The main target species was the LongtailedDuck Clangula hyemalis. For various reasonssome areas (the east coast archipelagos fromGävle–Kråkelund in 2009 and eastern Gotland in2010) were surveyed during the time for the springmigration of the Eider (which is still winter for theLong-tailed Ducks, leaving the Baltic in May). Inthis short contribution I present the results fromthese surveys for the Eider to give first snapshotsof the distribution of the species along the Balticcoast of Sweden during the migration period.
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