Sea Duck Information Series Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) French: Macreuse à front blanc

Description Surf scoters are stout sea ducks. Adult males weigh about 1050 grams (2.3 lbs) and females 900 grams (2 lbs). Adult males are distinguished by their bright, bulbous, multi-colored bills, lustrous velvety black plumage, and conspicuous white patches on the forehead and the back of the head/ neck. In immature males, bill coloration is less dramatic than in adults and the white head patches tend to be either entirely absent or much smaller in size.

Adult male Surf Scoter somewhat difficult to detect by aerial successive years. Spring migration survey because the breed in low starts in March. On the west coast, densities, exhibit secretive behavior, surf scoters often concentrate at and are difficult to distinguish from herring spawning areas, where they female white-winged scoters. feast on herring eggs. Pairs arrive on Immature male, left, and adult male, right During summer, large numbers breeding areas between mid-May and of immature and nonbreeding early June. The bill is large, appears swollen birds aggregate in coastal waters The surf scoter is one of the least at the base, and is multi-colored with of southeast Alaska and British studied ducks in North America. white, red, yellow and black. The bill Columbia. In the east, large numbers Nests are well concealed and the few appears mainly orange at a distance. are found coastally in sections of that have been found are typically Females have a dark brown Hudson Bay, the St. Lawrence near shallow, moderately size lakes. bodies, with slightly paler breast estuary and Gulf, and in the Maritime Females lays 7-9 eggs and and belly, and two indistinct white provinces. Most surf scoters undergo incubate them for about 29 days. patches on the cheeks below the eye. wing molt coastally, with major After hatch, several females with Their bill is greenish- or bluish-black. concentrations in the previously broods may join together and form Wings of surf scoters are entirely mentioned areas plus the Labrador a large flock known as a creche. dark above and below, and in flight coast, and Bering and Beaufort Seas. Females sometimes abandon the produce a whistling sound. Surf Wintering populations in the brood before they can fly, which takes scoters are generally silent, although Pacific range from the eastern about 55 days from the time they males may make a gurgling-like or Aleutians, along the coast of hatch. guttural croaking call in conjunction southcentral and southeast Alaska, Males leave females once females with certain courtship displays. south to central Baja California. have begun incubating. They often Highest densities occur in southeast Range undertake extensive molt migrations Alaska, the Strait of Georgia, BC, to coastal areas that are hundreds of Surf scoters breed exclusively in Puget Sound, and San Francisco Bay. miles from breeding areas. Molting North America. They breed in low Atlantic populations winter from flocks may number in the hundreds to densities throughout boreal forest Newfoundland south to Virginia, and thousands, although the location and habitat in Alaska and the Northwest uncommonly farther south. Highest characteristics of molting areas has Territories. In Ontario, breeding is concentrations are along the New not been well documented. documented only for the Hudson Bay York and New Jersey coast and in Birds depart coastal molting areas lowlands. Farther east, surf scoters Chesapeake Bay. A few winter in the from late August through November. breed from the James and Hudson Great Lakes. Surf scoters spend most of their Bays to the coast of Labrador, south annual cycle on wintering areas, as far as the Gulf of St. Lawrence. where they are found in shallow They may also nest in other Habitat and Habits (<10m) coastal waters. Some may be areas that have not been adequately Pairs form on wintering and surveyed. Breeding females are staging areas, and may reunite in Info sheet #14 of 15. October 2004 farther offshore, particularly on the Atlantic coast. Wintering birds feed mostly on mussels and clams, before switching to herring eggs or other seasonally abundant prey during spring migration. On freshwater breeding areas, they feed on a variety of freshwater invertebrates, particularly upon insects and their larvae. Ducklings feed mostly on benthic invertebrates, including bugs, amphipods, beetles, flies, roundworms, mayflies, caddisflies, spiders, and leeches. Surf scoters are believed to be long-lived but on average have low reproductive output. They do not breed until 2-3 years old.

Population Size and Status Distribution of Surf Scoter in North America Estimates of abundance for this species are poor. Their breeding more precise and geographically Many potential changes on range is incompletely surveyed, and comprehensive estimates are wintering areas could have an effect in the North American Waterfowl needed. Data on survival, and better on surf scoters or their primary foods. Breeding Survey, they are lumped information about their reproductive These include energy exploration and with white-winged scoters because biology and ecology, are needed to development, shellfish aquaculture, females are so hard to tell apart. Also, understand population dynamics. heavy metal contaminants from that survey is not optimally timed to Harvest estimates indicate 25,000- industrial activities, and oil spills. monitor surf scoters, which generally 30,000 surf scoters taken annually Environmental changes in boreal breed later than other duck species. by sport hunters in the U.S. and forest breeding areas, such as climate Consequently, annual estimates Canada, with 80-90% of that harvest change, are not well understood fluctuate widely depending on annual occurring in the Atlantic Flyway. but may affect the quality of scoter timing of migration and how many The number of immatures per adult breeding habitat. birds occur on surveyed areas. in the Atlantic Flyway harvest has A rough estimate of abundance is decreased significantly since 1961, 600,000 to 1 million birds for all North References and Resources suggesting either an increase in adult Savard, J.-P. L., D. Bordage, and A. America, the majority of which breed female mortality or a decrease in in the western part of the continent. Reed. 1998. Surf scoter (Melanitta productivity. In response, restrictions perspicillata). In The Birds of Trends for all scoter species have been imposed on the U.S. harvest combined (mostly surf and white- North America, No. 363 (A. F. in the Atlantic Flyway. Subsistence Poole and F. B. Gill, eds.). The winged) indicate a decline of about harvest for this species is apparently 50% since the 1950’s in western North Birds of North America, Inc., insignificant. Philadelphia, PA. America. The decline is most evident Studies using satellite telemetry in the northern boreal forest regions of are currently underway on both western Canada and Alaska. Causes Seaduckjv.org – the website for the coasts of North America to determine Sea Duck Joint Venture. of the apparent decline are unknown. where surf scoters from a particular No long term data set exists for wintering area breed, and vice eastern North America. versa, as well as where and when they migrate. This information will The Sea Duck Joint Venture is a Management and Conservation be essential in order to formulate conservation partnership under the Estimates of population size and management plans. North American Waterfowl trend are inadequate for management; Management Plan

To learn more about the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV), visit seaduckjv.org or contact: SDJV Coordinator, U.S./West SDJV Coordinator, Canada/East U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Canadian Wildlife Service 1011 East Tudor Road 17 Waterfowl Lane, P.O. Box 6227 Anchorage, AK 99503 Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1G6 (907) 786-3569 (506) 364-5013

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