black scoter
American scoter
melanitta americana latin

The female is a brown bird with pale cheeks, very similar to female Black Scoter.

Its French name, used in parts of its Canadian range, is macreuse noire (also meaning "black scoter").

Black Scoter and Common Scoter have diagnosably distinct vocalisations.

Black Scoter or American Scoter Melanitta americana (sometimes considered a subspecies of M. nigra)

Especially common are the razorbill, the surf scoter, the black scoter, the long-tailed duck, the red-throated loon, the common loon, and the lesser black-backed gull.

The Black Scoter breeds in the far north of North America in Labrador and Newfoundland to the southeast Hudson Bay, in Alaska.

Together with the Common Scoter M. nigra, it forms the subgenus Oidemia; the two are sometimes considered conspecific, the Black Scoter then being referred to as M. nigra americana.

The Restigouche Estuary was designated (June, 2000) an Important Bird Area of International Significance (the first in New Brunswick) because it is the largest staging area in eastern North America for Black scoter.

Species common to the refuge include common merganser, common goldeneye, tundra swan, greater white-fronted goose, mallard, northern pintail, American and Eurasian wigeon, American green-winged teal, Canada goose, greater scaup, northern shoveler, red-breasted merganser, black scoter, and long-tailed duck.

The Black or American Scoter (Melanitta americana) is a large sea duck, 43 to 49 centimeters in length.

Black Scoter or American Scoter Melanitta americana (sometimes considered a subspecies of M. nigra)

The Black or American Scoter (Melanitta americana) is a large sea duck, 43 to 49 centimeters in length.

Black Scoter or American Scoter Melanitta americana (sometimes considered a subspecies of M. nigra)