Geographic Range
Common scoters breed from Iceland, the British Isles, and Norway east to Russia and
Siberia. Their range extends to the lower Khantanga drainage and down to the Kamchatka
Peninsula. Common scoters winter primarily in the Baltic and North Sea area from northern
Norway south along the coast to Portugal and out to sea as far as the Azores. They
may winter south to Japan, Korea, and occasionally eastern China (Bordage and Savard
2011).
- Biogeographic Regions
- palearctic
Habitat
Common scoters are typically found on open salt water, rarely being found inland (Sibley
2012). They may use freshwater lakes during migration but will moult and overwinter
at sea (Birdlife International 2012). They prefer lakes less than 10 ha that are relatively
shallow with a gross till or rock substrate (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Melanitta nigra
is restricted to water less than 20 m deep because they dive while feeding. Optimally
the water is 5 to 15 m with abundant benthic fauna (Birdlife International 2012; Kaiser
et al. 2006). Inhabited lakes are usually saturated in oxygen, clear, acidic (pH greater
than 5), low conductivity, with little emergent vegetation (Bordage and Savard 2011).
These waters may be shallow inshore waters that are typically between 500 m and 2
km from shore.
- Habitat Regions
- temperate
- saltwater or marine
- freshwater
- Aquatic Biomes
- lakes and ponds
- coastal
Physical Description
Common scoters are the smallest, most compact of the
scoters
with relatively small bills and rounded heads (Sibley 2012). Adult males are solid
black except for a butter-colored swelling at the base of the bill. Male common scoters
have a total length of 49 cm with a mass of 1100 g, while females are 45 cm in length
and weigh 980 g. Females are dark brown with a pale cheek and a dark crown (Bordage
and Savare 2011). The underwings of common scoters are completely dark and unpatterned.
However, adult males have a completely black upperwing, while adult females and immature
black scoters have a dark brown upperwing (Carney 1992). Immature birds resemble the
female but are more mottled with white on the breast and belly. New hatchlings are
dark brown or sooty black on the back that gradually fade to light grey underneath.
(Bordage and Savare 2011).
Since 2010, common scoters (previously
Melanitta nigra nigra
) and
black scoters
(previously
Melanitta nigra americana
) have been considered distinct species instead of having subspecies status under
the name
Melanitta nigra
. This decision was largely based on vocal calls, but bill shape, amount of yellow
pigment in the bill, and nostril shape varies as well (Sangster et al. 2005).
Adult males can easily be separated from other scoters by the pattern and shape of
the bill (Bordage and Savard 2011). When looking at the wings, common scoters can
be distinguished from relatives by the 10th primary being shorter than the 9th primary.
The 10th primary is either black and attenuated or gray-black and tapering but in
either case, it is much narrower than the 9th primary. In
oldsquaw’s
, the 9th primary is the longest with the outerweb of this feather narrowing near
the tip.
Surf scoters
10th primary is the longest, but all primaries are uniformly tapering (Carney 1992).
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- homoiothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- male larger
- sexes colored or patterned differently
Reproduction
Common scoter pair formation likely occurs upon arrival on wintering grounds during
late fall and winter. However, courtship activity also occurs in the spring. There
is usually a single female with several males in courting groups. Males will display
with an upward stretch of the head, tail snap, forward rush, water flicked by the
bill, a breast-preen, forward stretch, erect, and then a head shake. Occasionally
they may ignore the tail snap and rushes. Other movements that males might exhibit
during their display include an upper shake, a short flight, underwater preening,
wing flaps, and steaming (something like a short, airless flight. During this time,
the female is often aggressive toward the male and will rush him in turn. Females
will show their preference by head stretch posture and calling. In addition, they
will show aggression to all other males (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Common scoters appear to be monogamous. However, forced copulation events may occur.
Pre-copulatory displays may include mock-preening by both sexes. Males will exhibit
a single upward shake while females assume a prone posture. She is then mounted immediately.
Post-copulation, the male will swim away displaying a tail snap, low rush, and upward
shake. The female then bathes (Bordage and Savard 2011).
- Mating System
- monogamous
It is assumed that common scoters breed for the first time at two or more years of
age but it is poorly studied (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Melanitta nigra
arrives at breeding grounds between late-April and May but breed from late-May to
June in solitary pairs. After June, males migrate to inshore or to offshore coastal
waters for their flightless moult (Birdlife International 2012). Nests hatching occurs
at this time. However, this time varies depending on weather conditions (Bordage and
Savard 2011). Females and young remain at these breeding grounds until September.
This breeding ground is often boggy tundra or Arctic dwarf heath on pools, small lakes,
streams, and slow rivers with low banks. Often these areas have a high abundance of
prey (Birdlife International 2012).
Common scoters build nests that are a scrape on the ground hidden by vegetation and
is either close to water or in dwarf heath (Birdlife International 2012). Eggs are
elliptical to oval and are pale pinkish-buff, off-white, or ivory. They are approximately
64.16 by 44.62 mm in size with an average thickness of 0.315 mm.
Melanitta nigra
usually has a clutch size of 8 to 9 eggs, laying them in a 1 to 2 day interval. Replacement
clutches have been documented but with fewer eggs. In addition, nest parasitism occurs
sometimes (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Females incubate eggs for 30 to 31 days in the wild and a reported 27 to 28 days for
captive birds (Bordage and Savard 2011). Young are precocial, covered fully in down
with eyes open. Often they will leave the nest as soon as the down is dry. They weigh
about 43 g at birth and between day 1 and 18 weigh an average of 316.7 g. Young between
19 and 42 days weigh an average of 511.5 g (Bordage and Savard 2011).
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- oviparous
Females create nests in a depression in the ground and line them with grass and down.
There they lay eggs in a one to two day interval, where the male will remain with
the female until the clutch is complete. Females then incubate the eggs after the
last eggs are laid. Nest attentiveness has not been well studied with common scoters,
but it is believed that at least two hours are spend off the nest and feeding on the
adjacent lake. In the first week, the female will occasionally brood the nest and
she will actively watch over her brood for 1 to 3 weeks. These broods are often abandoned
before they can even fly and they begin feeding themselves upon reaching water shortly
after hatching (Bordage and Savard 2011).
- Parental Investment
- precocial
- female parental care
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
There is little data on the lifespan of common scoters. However, a study of recaptures
in White Sea suggests a mean annual mortality of 20% with a maximum life expectancy
of 8 years after banding that is probably underestimated due to poor-quality rings.
Recovery of banded birds in Iceland suggest that annual adult survival of scoters
is 0.77 ± 0.04 (Bordage and Savard 2011). It is suggested that the maximum lifespan
of
Melanitta nigra
in the wild is 16.8 years (AnAge, 2012).
Behavior
This species is not known to be territorial beyond a male defending the moving space
around a female during breeding season. Physical interaction occurs mostly in courting
parties but they tend to sleep in tight flocks on the water. During the day, they
spend most of their time feeding and will form small groups to do so. If other species
intrude, then males or females will rush as a threat display. This is usually faster
than the rush in courtship displays (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Three types of dives have been described in this species: using feet only, using feet
for propulsion and half-extended wings for "planes or rudders", and using both feet
and half-extended wings for propulsion. Often wing-flaps with a downward thrust of
the head can be seen while swimming. Mass synchronized dives have been observed (Bordage
and Savard 2011). In addition, common scoters are highly gregarious during non-mating
seasons, having large flocks from several hundred to a thousand though over 100,000
individuals have been seen during the winter (Birdlife International 2011).
- Key Behaviors
- flies
- natatorial
- diurnal
- motile
- migratory
- social
Home Range
Home range size is not reported in common scoters.
Communication and Perception
Common scoters use vocalizations and body language (such as posture and movement)
to communicate. Females give a low hoarse call while males give a slurred, plaintive,
whistled "peeew" (Sibley 2012). The vocal repertoire of these birds appears to be
small, but they are the most vocal of the
scoters
(Bordage and Savard 2011).
The most commonly heard vocalization is the male courtship call (Sangster 2009). There
is clear diagnostic differences in the male courtship call of
Melanitta nigra
and
Melanitta americana
; however, there is no diagnostic difference across various distributions of the two
species. The call of
Melanitta americana
is much longer than the call of
Melanitta nigra
though they are both single notes that differ in midpoint frequency. This varied
vocalization is what led to the understanding that these are separate species. Vocalizations
play a role in pair formation and pair bonding in scoters (Sangster et al. 2005, Sangster
2009). The call of a courting male is a mellow whistle, while females emit a low growl
(Bordage and Savard 2011).
Food Habits
Common scoters are a type of diving duck that feeds on prey species that live within
the upper substratum of the water. Their diet is mostly composed of bivalve mollusks
with crabs, small fish, and gastropods also included. Echinoderms have been found
in their diet at such a low quantity that it is presumed to be accidental intake (Kaister
et al. 2006). Along the Belgian coasts it was found that 47% of the of the diet was
composed of
polychaetes
, 20% was
bivalves
, 14% was
amphipod crustaceans
, 6% was
decapod crustaceans
, with the remaining in various taxa (Degraer et al. 1999). Up to 10% of
Melanitta nigra
diet might be composed of plants (Bordage and Savard 2011).
Melanitta nigra
tends to be highly aggregated and, as such, severely diminish food resources in an
area over the season. While the mechanism for feeding is unknown, most do not consider
them visual feeders (Kaiser et al. 2006).
- Primary Diet
-
carnivore
- eats non-insect arthropods
- molluscivore
- eats other marine invertebrates
- Animal Foods
- fish
- mollusks
- aquatic or marine worms
- aquatic crustaceans
- echinoderms
- Plant Foods
- algae
Predation
Little is known about predation on
Melanitta nigra
and few studies have looked into this. In Iceland,
gyrfalcons
will prey on adults. Eggs and young are taken by
ravens
and
minks
(Bordage and Savard 2011).
Ecosystem Roles
Common scoters prey upon mollusks, crustaceans, worms, echinoderms, isopods, amphidods,
insects, and small fish and may locally impact populations of these prey (BirdLife
International 2012). Like most birds, they are susceptible to parasites. Jennings
and Soulsby (2009) found
Tetrameres fissispina
,
Echinuria horrida
,
Polymorphus minutus
,
Amidostomum anseris
, and
Spilotrema pygmaeum
in common scoters. In
black scoters
it was found that females had more "freshwater" parasites than males, conversely
males carried more "marine" parasites than females (Bordage and Savard 2011). This
might be similar to common scoters, considering that they share similar life histories.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Humans hunt common scoters in some regions and eggs have been harvested in Iceland
and some countries in Europe (Gudmundsson 1979, Kaiser et at. 2006).
- Positive Impacts
- food
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known adverse effects of common scoters on humans. They compete at small,
local scales with humans for some benthic shellfish but these are not significant
economic impacts (BirdLife International 2012).
Conservation Status
Common scoters are identified as least concern according to the IUCN Red List due
an extremely large range with a large population. However this species is adversely
affected by oil spills, chronic oil pollution, human disturbance, and the degradation
of food resources from oil exploration, and coastal habitat destruction. Populations
wintering off coasts of western Europe are threatened from offshore wind farming and
some breeding habitats are being negatively affected by eutrophication (BirdLife International
2012).
Common scoters are protected in the United Kingdom under the Wildlife and Countryside
Act of 1981 as amended and through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in 2000.
This controls hunting and provides protection against disturbances for breeding birds
(Kaiser et al. 2006).
Additional Links
Contributors
Rebekah Spicer (author), Northern Michigan University, Alec Lindsay (editor), Northern Michigan University, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
- Palearctic
-
living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- temperate
-
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
- saltwater or marine
-
mainly lives in oceans, seas, or other bodies of salt water.
- freshwater
-
mainly lives in water that is not salty.
- coastal
-
the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- young precocial
-
young are relatively well-developed when born
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- natatorial
-
specialized for swimming
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- migratory
-
makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds
- social
-
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- food
-
A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- molluscivore
-
eats mollusks, members of Phylum Mollusca
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
Banks, A., W. Sanderson, B. Hughes, P. Cranswick, L. Smith, S. Whitehead, A. Musgrove, B. Haycock, N. Fairney. 2008. The Sea Empress oil spill (Wales, UK): effects on common scoter Melanitta nigra in Carmarthen Bay and status ten years later. Marine Pollution Bulletin , 56/5: 895-902.
Bengtson, S. 1971. Habitat selection of duck broods in Lake Mývatn area, north-east Iceland. Ornis Scandinavica , 2/1: 17-26.
BirdLife International, 2012. " Melanitta nigra " (On-line). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed April 16, 2013 at http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/139494910/0 .
Bordage, D., J. Savard. 2011. "Black Scoter" (On-line). The Birds of North America.
Bourgeois, C., W. Threlfall. 1982. Metazoan parasites of three species of scoter (Anatidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology , 60/10: 2253-2257.
Carney, S. 1992. Species, age and sex identification of ducks using wing plumage . Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Accessed January 21, 2013 at http://www4.ncsu.edu/~csdepern/documents/WaterfowlWings.pdf .
Degraer, S., M. Vincx, P. Meire, H. Offringa. 1999. The macrozoobenthos of an important wintering area of the common scoter ( Melanitta nigra ). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK , 79/2: 243-251.
Fox, A., Æ. Petersen, M. Frederiksen. 2003. Annual survival and site-fidelity of breeding female common scoter Melanitta nigra at Myvatn, Iceland, 1925-1958. Ibis , 145/2: E94-E96.
Fox, A., P. Hartmann, I. Petersen. 2008. Changes in body mass and organ size during remigial moult in common scoter Melanitta nigra . Journal of Avian Biology , 39/1: 35-40.
Gudmundsson, F. 1979. The Past Status and Exploitation of the Mývatn Waterfowl Populations. Oikos , 32: 232-249.
Jennings, A., J. Soulsby. 2009. Diseases of Wild Birds, Fourth Report. Bird Study , 4/4: 216-220.
Kaiser, M., M. Galanidi, D. Showler, A. Elliott, R. Caldow, E. Rees, R. Stillman, W. Sutherland. 2006. Distribution and behavior of common scoter Melanitta nigra relative to prey resources and environmental parameters. Ibis , 148: 110-128.
Kuhnlein, H., D. Appavoo, N. Morrison, R. Soueida, P. Pierrot. 1994. Use and nutrient composition of traditional Sahtú (Hareskin) Dene/Métis foods. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis , 7/3: 144-157.
Sangster, G., J. Collinson, A. Helbig, A. Knox, D. Parkin. 2005. Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: third report. Ibis , 147: 821-826.
Sangster, G. 2009. Acoustic differences between the scoters Melanitta nigra nigra and M.n. americana . The Wilson Journal of Ornithology , 121/4: 696-702.
Sibley, D. 2012. The Sibley field guid to birds of eastern North America . New York: Andrew Stewart Publishing Inc.
2012. "AnAge" (On-line). Human Aging Genomic Resources. Accessed April 16, 2013 at http://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Melanitta_nigra .
2013. "IOC World Bird List" (On-line). Accessed February 14, 2013 at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-waterfowl.html .
2013. "The British List" (On-line). British Ornithologists’ Union. Accessed February 14, 2013 at http://www.bou.org.uk/british-list/ .
2013. "Waterbird Population Estimates" (On-line). Wetlands International. Accessed February 14, 2013 at http://wpe.wetlands.org/view/2374 .