Black Scoter

Black Scoter; breeding male; Churchill, Manitoba. June

About the photographs

About the map

Black Scoter, adult female; Monterey, CA. May.

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A coastal duck that breeds in the subarctic, the Black Scoter is not well studied in North America. Only a few nests have ever been found.

Description

• Stocky diving duck.
• Black.
• No white in wings.
• Male all black with swollen yellow or orange knob at base of bill.
• Female blackish with large whitish face patch.

• Size: 43-53 cm (17-21 in)
• Wingspan: 84 cm (33 in)
• Weight: 862-1270 g (30.43-44.83 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male solid black with bright knob at base of bill, female more brown, with large whitish face patch and without bill knob.

Sound

Wings make whistling noise in flight. Male gives clear whistle in courtship. Female give grating "kraaa."

Conservation Status

Common. Populations may be declining.

Other Names

Macreuse à bec jaune (French)
Negrón común (Spanish)
Common Scoter (British) (English)

Cool Facts

• The Black Scoter is divided into two subspecies. In the form found in Europe, the "Common Scoter," the male has a larger swollen knob at the base of the upper bill that is black on the sides with a yellow stripe on top, not entirely yellow.
• The Black Scoter occasionally does a "Wing-flap" display while swimming, flapping its wings with its body held up out of the water. Unlike other scoters, it almost always punctuates a Wing-flap with a characteristic downward thrust of head, as if its neck were momentarily broken. Surf and White-winged scoters keep their heads and bills pointing more or less above the horizontal throughout a Wing-flap.

• The Black Scoter is among the most vocal of waterfowl. Groups of Black Scoters often can be located by the constant mellow, plaintive whistling sound of the males.

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Bellrose, F. C. 1976. Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
2. Bordage, D., and J. L. Savard. 1995. Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra). In The Birds of North America, No. 177 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists? Union, Washington, D.C.