Adult male. Photo: Agami Photo Agency/Shutterstock
Melanitta americana
| Conservation status | Numbers are thought to be declining. Flocks at sea are vulnerable to oil spills and other pollution. |
|---|---|
| Family | Ducks and Geese |
| Habitat | Seacoasts; in summer, coastal tundra. Breeding habitat includes low-lying wet tundra and higher slopes in treeless terrain, also openings around lakes in northern forest. In winter mostly on bays and along exposed coastlines, usually over shallow water within a mile of shore. Migrants stop on Great Lakes and other fresh waters, some remaining for winter. |
Forages by diving and swimming underwater, propelled by feet; wings may be folded or partly opened.
7-8, sometimes 5-11. Whitish to pale buff. Incubation is by female, roughly 27-33 days. Young: Leave nest shortly after hatching and go to water. Female tends young (and broods them at night while small), but young feed themselves. Age at first flight about 6-7 weeks.
Leave nest shortly after hatching and go to water. Female tends young (and broods them at night while small), but young feed themselves. Age at first flight about 6-7 weeks.
Mainly mollusks, insects. At sea feeds mainly on mollusks, especially mussels and other bivalves; also crustaceans, marine worms, echinoderms. In summer on fresh water eats many aquatic insects, also fish eggs, mollusks, small fish, some plant material.
Several males may court one female, surrounding her on water. Displays of male include rushing along surface of water with back hunched and head low, bowing jerkily while calling, and quickly snapping tail up to vertical position over back. Nest site is on ground, usually near water, often on a hummock or ridge on tundra, generally hidden by grasses or low scrub. Nest (built by female) is a shallow depression lined with plant material and with down.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
The area is a critically important breeding and migratory stopover for huge numbers of waterfowl, including Common Goldeneye and Black Scoter.
Not only do these stewardship programs support the places birds need, they also build strong and healthy human communities.
Funding to maintain protected areas across Canada will help safeguard boreal birds for years to come.
Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news.
Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.
Membership benefits include one year of Audubon magazine and the latest on birds and their habitats. Your support helps secure a future for birds at risk.
Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives.
