Family:
The black scoter, also known as the American scoter is a large sea duck, that is sometimes considered conspecific with the common scoter. They are bulky birds with a short tail, rounded head, and a broad, bulbous bill.
Adult males have black plumage with an orange knob at the base of the bill. Females are dark brown with a black cap and paler cheeks. Their bills are dark with no orange.
Males are very vocal and make a plaintive whistling sound. Their wings also whistle in flight.
Try our interactive bird identifier
Black scoters feed on insects, fish eggs, and occasionally vegetation such as duck week. During winter they will dive for molluscs and crustaceans.
Black scoters breed in the far north of North America, and the Siberian side of the Bering Straits. It spends its winters further south on the coats of the northern USA and Canada and in Asia as far south as China.
Breeding grounds include boreal forest lakes, while wintering grounds are on coastal open waters. During migration they are found in large flocks in lines resting on inland lakes and large rivers.
One Response
I am sure I spotted a Black Scoter on the river Mersey UK today. Watched it for an hour feeding on outgoing tide. Jet black with bright orange/beak. Sure it wasn’t a Common Scoter. Sadly just had phone camera so couldn’t get accurate photo but was very clear through binoculars.