Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Eric Reuter/Great Backyard Bird Count Participant
Surf Scoter
Melanitta perspicillata
| Conservation status | May have gone through a serious decline early in the 20th century, but now mostly stable or only slightly declining. Wintering concentrations are vulnerable to oil spills and other pollution. |
|---|---|
| Family | Ducks and Geese |
| Habitat | Ocean surf, salt bays, marinas; in summer, fresh Arctic lakes, tundra. Breeding habitat is near lakes and slow-moving rivers in far north, in sparsely forested or semi-open terrain, sometimes out on open tundra. In winter mostly on ocean in shallow bays or estuaries. Some may winter on Great Lakes, rarely on other bodies of fresh water. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages by diving and swimming underwater, propelled mainly by the feet, with the wings usually half-opened.
Eggs
5-9, usually about 7. Pale buff. Incubation is by female only, incubation period not known. Young: Leave nest and go to water shortly after hatching. Young are tended by female, but feed themselves. Age of young at first flight not well known.
Young
Leave nest and go to water shortly after hatching. Young are tended by female, but feed themselves. Age of young at first flight not well known.
Diet
Mostly mollusks. In addition to mollusks, also feeds on crustaceans, aquatic insects, small fishes, echinoderms, marine worms. Also eats some plant material, mainly pondweeds and sedges. Young eat mostly aquatic insects at first, also mollusks and some plant material, including sedges, pondweeds, and crowberries.
Nesting
Pairs are formed on winter range. Several males may surround one female in courtship. Displays of male include swimming back and forth rapidly with neck stretched upward, exaggerated bowing, short display flights; males may pursue female underwater. Nest site is often some distance away from water, on ground, well hidden under low tree branches or in dense grass clump. Nest (built by female) is a shallow depression lined with down.
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- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
Songs and Calls
A low guttural croaking.Surf Scoter In the News More News
Podcast
The Slick Trick Sea Ducks and Surfers Use to Avoid Getting Smashed by Waves
Surf Scoters forage for food where waves break with the greatest violence.
Audubon In Action
A New Kind of Emergency Fund
Audubon California helps senators put forth a statewide bill to subsidize spill recovery.
Conservation
California Waterbirds Hit With Mysterious Goo
With dead ducks and grebes washing ashore in San Francisco Bay, how do wildlife organizations cope with puzzling toxic spills?
