BLACK SCOTER 

 ( Melanltta nigra ) 



[DA: Sortartd, DU: Zwarte Zee-eend, EN: Common Scoter, FI: Meriteeri, FR: 

 Macreuse noire, GE: Trauerente , IC: Hrafnsond, IT: Orchetto marino, JA: Kuro- 

 gamo, NW: Svartand, PO: Markaczka czarna, PR: Pato-do-mar, Pato negro; RU: 

 (Scoter), SP: Anade negro comun , Negron comun; SW: Sjoorre, US: American Scoter^ 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America The Black Scoter breeds in coastal interior Alaska from 

 Bristol Bay north to Kotzebue Sound and Mount McKinley. There is a small breed- 

 ing population in central Ungava and there are a few scattered breeding records 

 from Newfoundland, northern Quebec, and southern Keewatin District (Godfrey 

 1966). Details of the breeding range are not clear (Johnsgard 1975, Bellrose 

 1976, Palmer 1976b), in part because summer birds do not necessarily nest. 



In winter Black Scoters are found in the Great Lakes region and along the 

 Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Along the Pacific coast they range from the Aleut- 

 ian Islands south to northern Baja California (Palmer 1976b), but are apparent- 

 ly most abundant in the Aleutian Islands and on the Alaska Peninsula (Johnsgard 

 1975, Palmer 1976b). Black Scoters commonly winter from Newfoundland to the 

 Carolinas (Johnsgard 1975, Bellrose 1976); they also winter, in small numbers, 

 off the Atlantic coast of Florida and off the coast of states bordering the 

 Gulf of Mexico (Map 25). 



World Distribution The American race (M. n. americana ) also breeds in 

 northern Asia from the Lena-Yana watershed to the Anadyr Basin and the Kamchat- 

 ka Peninsula and on the Kurile Islands. The European Black Scoter (M. n. nigra ) 

 breeds in Iceland, Scotland, Norway, and northern Eurasia at least to the Khat- 

 anga River (Johnsgard 1978). It has occurred in North America only as a strag- 

 gler to Greenland (Palmer 1976b). European Black Scoters winter primarily off 

 the coasts of western Europe and on the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas 

 (Johnsgard 1978), but are also found off the coasts of northwest Africa. Birds 

 of the American race winter along the Asian coast south along the Kamchatka 

 Peninsula to Korea, Japan, and eastern China (Cramp et al. 1977). 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



The record of observations of the Black Scoter in the southeast shows a 

 dramatic change in either the winter distribution and abundance of the species 

 or the pattern of observation and reporting. The typical winter distribution 

 of the northern sea ducks — large concentrations off the northeastern coast, 



Taxonomic note: The Fifth Edition of the AOU Check-list (1957) lists this spe- 

 cies as the Common Scoter, Oidemia nigra . Many older references use the speci- 

 fic name americana . 



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