Surf Scoter

Melanitta perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Surf Scoter, Melanitta perspicillata, is a sea duck of North America, breeding from mainland Alaska across subarctic Canada to Labrador and wintering from the eastern Aleutian Islands to Baja California on the Pacific side, and from Prince Edward Island to North Carolina on the western North Atlantic. It is a diving duck and the adult male is mostly black, marked by white on the forehead and nape, with a distinctive bill pattern. Females are browner and a little smaller, and young birds resemble them. It is one of the scoters that can be told apart by the male’s head pattern and dark wings in flight.

Order

Anseriformes

Family

Anatidae — Ducks, Geese, Swans

Breeding range

North America: mainland Alaska through subarctic Canada e to Labrador

Nonbreeding range

e Aleutian Is. to Baja California (North Pacific); Prince Edward I. to North Carolina (wc North Atlantic)