Black scoter
Black scoter (Melanitta nigra)
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The black scoter is one of North America's least known sea ducks, due in part to its very limited and remote distribution.
Appearance: The male scoter is completely black except for the large orange-yellow bulge at the base of its bill and a grey fringe on the flight feathers. Female and immature black scoters are dark brown with light grey patches on the throat and cheeks and a darkly capped head. Both sexes have dusky-coloured feet, unlike the surf and white-winged scoter, which have yellow or pinkish feet.
Breeding: Little is known about the black scoters breeding behaviour. Courtship begins in spring on the wintering grounds. Males perform a variety of displays. The female selects the nest site, often within 30 metres of the water's edge. Clutch is eight to nine pale, oval eggs. Incubation lasts 29 days. Young can fly at about 42 days.
Habitat: The black scoter prefers shallow and small lakes during breeding in the east. In Alaska, sloughs, riverbanks and tundra wetlands.
Range: The eastern population breeds mostly in the boreal forests of Quebec and Labrador and the western population breeds on the tundra of Alaska. Both populations spend their winters along their respective coasts.
Diet: Diet is 90 per cent animal matter and 10 per cent vegetation. On the breeding grounds they eat freshwater insects, larvae, fish eggs, mollusks, duckweed, pondweed and water milfoil. In winter they dive for mollusks and small crustaceans.