Species: Melanitta americana
Black Scoter
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
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Classification
Other Global Common Names
American Scoter - macreuse à bec jaune
Ecology and Life History
Food Comments
Except in inland habitats, mollusks comprise a majority of the diet; the blue mussel (MYTILUS EDULIS) often is a major food (Bellrose 1976). Also eats crustaceans, some fishes and plant foods, the latter being most important in inland habitats. Usually feeds in protected areas where water is no more than 25 ft deep.
Reproduction Comments
In northern Quebec, egg laying began in the first week of June; hatching occurred in the second and third weeks of July (Savard and Lamothe, 1991, Can. Field-Nat. 105:488-496). Clutch size is 5-8 (often 8). Incubation lasts 27-28 days (Terres 1980). Young are tended by female, independent in 6-7 weeks (Harrison 1978).
Distribution
Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: North America in western and southern Alaska, Aleutians, scattered areas in central and eastern Canada, including southern Keewatin, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland. Also found (and may breed) from southern Yukon and Mackenzie east to Labrador and Newfoundland. Eurasia from Iceland, British Isles, Spitsbergen, and Scandinavia east across Russia and Siberia to Anadyrland, Sakhalin, and Kamchatka. NON-BREEDING: North America on Pacific coast from Pribilofs and Aleutians to southern California, Great Lakes, Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to South Carolina, Florida. Eurasia from breeding grounds south to Mediterranean Sea, Korea, eastern China, and Japan. Accidental in Hawaii (Midway) and in North America to Gulf Coast (AOU 1983). In the U.S. and southern Canada, areas of winter abundance include coastal areas of southern New Jersey, South Carolina, British Columbia, and Washington (Root 1988). In the early 1990s, USFWS Winter Sea Duck Survey in eastern North America found the highest densities of scoters (all species) in Virginia, New York, Maine, and Massachusetts (descending order of abundance, Kehoe 1994).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)