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Common Scoter
Melanitta nigra
Identify the Common Scoter by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Common Scoter is a sturdy sea duck of northern Eurasia; males are all black and females dark brown with pale cheeks. It breeds on northern lakes and bogs from Iceland to Siberia and winters at sea along European and north-west African coasts. Formerly lumped with the Black Scoter of North America, it differs in bill shape and voice. At sea it often gathers in large, dense flocks.
Did you know?
- In 19th-century France it was considered acceptable to eat on meatless Fridays because of its fishy taste.
- After breeding, large groups gather offshore to moult and become temporarily flightless.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A medium-sized black duck. The male is all black, with slightly paler flight feathers in flight; the bill has a yellow patch on top and a small black knob. The female is dirty brown with a darker nape and crown and paler cheeks; the bill is all dark without a knob. Young birds resemble the female but are browner and paler below. Unlike Velvet Scoter it has no white wing patch.
Family
Anatidae
Size
Large (crow)
Colours
black, yellow
About the habitat
Breeds on northern lakes, pools and bog waters in tundra and open woodland; outside the breeding season shallow coastal seas, offshore sandbanks and sheltered bays.
Diet
Mainly marine bivalves such as mussels and cockles, other molluscs and small crustaceans; on breeding lakes aquatic insects and their larvae.
Behaviour
Highly gregarious at sea, diving repeatedly to the seabed in tight, coordinated rafts. It flies fast and low over the waves in long lines. Pairs form on breeding lakes; the female nests on the ground near water, lays 6–8 eggs and leads the brood, while males leave early to moult in large groups at sea.
Sources
Photo: Stephan Sprinz, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Männliche Trauerente (Melanitta nigra) - Spiekeroog, Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer.jpg
Sound: Luis Alvarez Menendez, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melanitta_nigra_-_Common_Scoter_XC542372.mp3
Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_scoter
 - Spiekeroog, Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer.jpg){kind=link}