SPECTACLED EIDER
Central Park Zoo boasts the largest public collection of sea ducks in the world. Eight of their 23 different species on exhibit gave birth to healthy chicks this year. One of those was the appropriately named spectacled eider.
"Spectacled eiders have the characteristic ring around the eye from the moment they hatch," Susan Cardillo, animal curator at the zoo, told Discovery News. "The hens lay up to six eggs and have a shorter incubation period than most sea ducks. This is due to the need for young eiders to quickly fledge and leave the breeding grounds before the waters freeze over.