From Opus

Alternative name: Common Scoter

Photo by Rob
Photo taken: the Netherlands.

Melanitta nigra

[edit] Identification

45-49cm. Male: All black, very bulbous, mostly yellow bill. Female: Brown with pale cheeks and may have some yellow around the nostils.

[edit] Similar Species

The female may be confused with American Scoter. Female Red-crested Pochard has a white wing bar and Long-tailed Duck has a smaller bill and much whiter underparts.

[edit] Distribution

Photo by IanF
Female
Photographed at: Hartlepool, Cleveland. UK

Far north of North America in Labrador and Newfoundland to the southeast Hudson Bay, in Alaska. It winters further south on the coasts of the northern USA and Canada, and in Asia as far south as China.

Northern Eurasia; winters western Europe to Mediterranean and Caspian Sea. There are a few breeding areas in northern Scotland and Ireland.

[edit] Taxonomy

Formerly considered conspecific with its North American counterpart, which has been split as the American Scoter M. americana.

[edit] Habitat

Winters on sea-coasts, usually at some distance from the shore.
Breeds on inland lakes or rivers, in woodland or tundra.

[edit] Behaviour

Photo by Carpie
Terschelling, Holland, December 2007

• Gregarious, may form very large flocks, especially with Velvet Scoter.
  
• Pointed tail is often raised.
  
• Spring migration takes place overland at night.
• Autumn migration is along the coast during the day.

[edit] Flight

• Flies low to the water in long lines. Flight is strong and rapid.
  
• Dives with a small leap.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes crustaceans and molluscs, insects and their larvae, fish eggs and vegetation such as duck weed while nesting on freshwater.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is built on the ground. 5-7 eggs are laid and are incubated for 27 to 31 days.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. Birdwatchers Pocket Guide ISBN 1-85732-804-3
2. Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds 1966
3. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
4. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
5. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links