Species: Melanitta perspicillata

Surf Scoter

Species

Birds

Show on Lists

Species of concern in the Salish Sea

Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Puget Sound Partnership indicator species: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Science Review:

9. Marine birds

Articles:

Marine and terrestrial bird indicators for Puget Sound

December 01, 2013

A December 2013 report identifies marine and terrestrial bird species for use as indicators within the Puget Sound Partnership's "Vital Signs" for ecosystem health.

Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra). Photo by Dave Menke, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) and prey size

October 25, 2012

This paper examines the importance of prey size to shifting scoter populations in two bays in north Puget Sound.

Surf scoters in Padilla bay, seen through a spotting scope. Photo from the Washington Department of Ecology.

Marine birds

April 01, 2011

More than 70 bird species regularly utilize Puget Sound during some or all stages of their life histories, but only a portion of these are actively being investigated.

Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus). Photo by Finley and Bohlman, courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Anseriformes

Family

Anatidae

Genus

Melanitta

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100806

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Negreta Nuca Blanca - macreuse à front blanc

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Melanitta

Ecology and Life History

Migration

false - false - true - Migrates northward in flocks along coast with peak in April-May. Migrates southward from breeding grounds late August-October. In Beaufort Sea area, westward migration of males to molting areas occurs in late spring-early summer.

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Eats mainly invertebrates; mollusks (especially blue mussel and other bivalves), crustaceans and aquatic insects. In summer also some plant food (pondweeds, wild celery, muskgrass and seeds of sedges and bulrushes). May dive to depths of 2-9 m and stay under water 19-32 seconds (Terres 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Breeding begins generally around mid-June. 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. Incubation is done by female (male departs). Precocial young are tended by female.

Length

Weight

1000

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-21

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-21

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: western Alaska (scattered nesting in northern Alaska?), Mackenzie Delta, northern Prairie Provinces, to James Bay and Newfoundland; central Labrador; possibly northeastern Siberia. WINTERS: primarily coastal from Aleutian Islands to Baja California and Gulf of California (mainly coast of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia, also the coast near San Diego); Nova Scotia to Florida, Gulf Coast (rarely); Great Lakes; casual in other areas; accidental in Hawaii (Oahu). 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

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100806