Surf scoter
Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
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The surf scoter (a.k.a. skunk-head) - unlike its duck relatives - the white-winged and black scoter - is endemic to North America.
Appearance: The male has prominent white patches on his foreheads and neck, a bright orange and white bill and overall black plumage. Females have dark black and light brown bellies as well as a white patch on their cheek.
Breeding: Develop pair bonds on the wintering grounds. Female conceals the nest under low sweeping branches of conifers, a good distance from water. Lays seven creamy white eggs and incubation lasts 30 days.
Habitat: Breed on shallow lakes, small wetlands and muskeg bogs. They use lakes with rocky edges and little or no emergent vegetation.
Range: They breed in the boreal forest of northern Canada and Alaska and spend the winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
Diet: Diving duck. Forage mussels, clams and Pacific herring in the winter and benthic invertebrates during breeding.
Status and conservation issues: Scoter populations on western North America have declined by approximately 50 per cent since the 1950s. Rapidly declining scoter populations on all three species has triggered a cascade of partnerships and research initiatives aimed at better understanding the scoter ecology and hopefully quelling the decline.
Interesting facts: Surf scoters wings make a whistling sound as they cut through the air in flight, which is characteristic of all three scoter species.
