Sea Duck Information Series Black (Melanitta americana) French: Macreuse à bec jaune

Description Black are medium-sized sea ducks approximately 43–49 cm (17–19 in) long. Males are slightly larger than females and weigh 980– 1100 grams (2.2–2.4 lb). Males are solid black and have a yellow knob on their relatively small bill, whereas females are dark brown with a pale cheek patch and a dark crown. They retain the same plumage year-round. In flight, the undersides of their wings flash silvery gray in contrast to their dark bodies. Their wings make a whistling noise in flight. Males are very vocal and make a continuous mellow, plaintive whistling sound. Females make a low growling sound during courtship.

Range The black scoter has two separate populations in . The eastern population breeds in Reprinted with permission from the artist, © Joseph Hautman northern Quebec, , and in boreal forest and taiga areas west to Great Slave Lake. The western Along the Atlantic coast, black of drainages and lakes. The nest is a population breeds on tundra areas of scoters winter from Nova Scotia hollow of grass and down concealed the north-central Alaska Peninsula, south into Florida with highest in brushy, dense vegetation; distance Bristol Bay lowlands, Yukon- concentrations along the New Jersey to water varies from a few meters Kuskokwim Delta, and Kotzebue and Massachussets coasts. A few to hundreds of meters. Males stay Sound. winter in the Great Lakes. Along the with females until are laid, then Spring migration begins in April, Pacific coast, black scoters winter depart to molting sites in marine and and arrive on breeding grounds from the Aleutian Islands to the estuarine areas; there they assemble in mid-May to early June. In the mid-California coast, with most birds in rafts of thousands to undergo the Atlantic flyway, most birds stage at wintering in the Aleutians and along annual wing molt. Chaleur Bay, New Brunswick and the Alaska Peninsula. Females incubate 6-8 eggs for 27– migrate through James Bay. In the 31 days. Ducklings are fully covered Pacific, nearly all birds migrate into Habitat and Habits with down and leave the nest shortly Bristol Bay en route to breeding The black scoter is one of North after hatching. Young ducklings can areas. Little is known about where America’s least-studied sea ducks, feed by themselves immediately after nonbreeding or immature birds and little is known about the factors leaving the nest and eat a variety go during the breeding season; in that determine habitat preferences of larvae including , Alaska, many nonbreeders occur in for breeding, molting, staging, and dragonfly, mosquito, and midge. They Kvichak Bay. wintering areas. Generally, black can fly when about six weeks old. Black scoter males, nonbreeders, scoters breed near shallow tundra Females stay with broods for at least and unsuccessful hens molt lakes in Alaska, or tundra and taiga four weeks after the eggs hatch, then their wing feathers and become (boreal forest) lakes in eastern and begin their own molt. Several broods flightless for 3-4 weeks during central . They winter in near- may congregate and form large groups July and August, with successful shore marine and estuarine areas, on lakes. Females raise only one brood hens molting in late August and and to a lesser extent in the Great per year. September. Known molting areas Lakes. The diet of black scoters at sea is in eastern North America include As with other sea ducks, black predominantly mollusks (e.g., mussels James and Hudson bays and coastal scoters are believed to reach sexual and clams), but also Labrador. In western North America, maturity when they are two or (e.g., snails, periwinkles), limpets, important molting sites include three years old. Courting begins in barnacles, and seasonally, herring bays in Bristol Bay and along the spring, and they arrive paired on roe. Ducks usually feed in depths Alaska Peninsula. Timing of fall the breeding grounds. Black scoters <10 m, diving to take prey which migration is more variable, beginning nest later than most ducks, initiation they then swallow whole; powerful in early September and lasting into occurs from from late May to late muscles of the gizzard crush the prey, November. June depending on location. Females shell and all. On freshwater breeding select nesting sites along the edges areas, black scoters have a varied diet

Info sheet #2 of 15. July 2016 that includes mostly aquatic and some pondweeds.

Population Size and Status About 400,000 black scoters winter on the Atlantic coast of North America, and about 220,000 on the Pacific coast, although these estimates are fairly crude. Most Atlantic black scoters stage on the Restigouche River on the New Brunswick - Quebec border during spring migration. It is not known whether some of the black scoters wintering in the Pacific originate from Russian breeding grounds, and it is not known how many black scoters winter in the Great Lakes or the . Population estimates for Pacific (i.e., Alaska) black scoters are about 140,000 breeding birds. Indices of scoter population size in Alaska from the Waterfowl Breeding Pair and Distribution of Black Scoter in North America Habitat Survey have declined at an average rate of 1.6% per year; or for this species in some areas, with a Bordage, D., and J.-P. Savard. 1995. almost 50% since the 1950’s, although reported annual harvest in western Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra). In a survey conducted 2004-2012 Alaska of about 12,000 in recent years, The Birds of North America, No suggests the population is currently proportionally higher for black scoters 177 (A.F. Poole and F.B. Gill, eds). stable or increasing. More precise than for any other duck species. Philadelphia, Penn: The Academy surveys are needed to determine the Regulations governing harvest of Natural Sciences; Washington, status of black scoters, particularly in of sea ducks have been quite liberal D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ eastern North America. in the past and need to be carefully Union. examined; it is not clear what effect Seaduckjv.org - the web site for the Management and Conservation sport and subsistence hunting have Sea Duck Joint Venture. Black scoters are subject to a had on this species or what level combination of threats and ongoing of harvest is sustainable. Harvest impacts. These include contaminants restrictions have been imposed on the in the food chain, subsistence harvest, harvest in the Atlantic Flyway. Efforts sport harvest, and habitat disturbance are underway in Alaska to improve and fragmentation, including large- subsistence harvest surveys. scale habitat disturbance from Researchers on both the Atlantic resource-extraction industries in the and Pacific coasts have used satellite Bering Sea of Alaska and in north- telemetry to document migration central Canada, and hydrologic routes and connectivity patterns projects in northern Quebec. Black between wintering and breeding scoters are also susceptible to oil spills. aeras, and determine habitats Black scoters are hunted in used. Information from these Canada and the ; the studies is helping in the design and sport harvest averages approximately interpretation of monitoring surveys 15,000 annually for both countries. and will allow for more informed The Sea Duck Joint Venture is a Most (> 80 percent) of the sport management decisions. conservation partnership under the harvest occurs in the Atlantic Flyway. North American Waterfowl Subsistence harvest may be significant References and Resources Management Plan

To learn more about sea ducks and the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV), visit seaduckjv.org or contact:

SDJV Coordinator, U.S./West SDJV Coordinator, Canada/East U.S. & 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) 364-5085

Sea Duck Joint Venture Partners:

ATLANTIC FLYWAY COUNCIL