Common Scoter

Red list

Melanitta nigra

A dark sea duck that winters in long, low, fast-flying strings far offshore.

Sea duck · 100,000 breeding pairs (UK)

Measurements

In most ducks the male (drake) and female (hen) look quite different. Study both to identify any bird.

Photos: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Mussels, cockles and other shellfish, plus crabs, prawns and small fish.

Sea duck (dives in coastal waters) Medium (mallard-sized, 45–55 cm)

Open sea, often far offshore; breeds beside remote freshwater lochs in northern Scotland.

A rare and declining breeder on Scottish flow country lochs.

Arrives in winter from Icelandic and Russian breeding grounds.

Males give a slow, descending whistled "pew".

Compare with close relatives.

Somateria mollissima

The UK’s largest and heaviest duck, a hardy sea duck famous for the insulating down that lines its nest.

Melanitta fusca

A large, dark sea duck with a bright wing flash, rarer and bigger than its common cousin.

Clangula hyemalis

A small, buoyant Arctic sea duck with a needle tail and an astonishing musical voice.