The Black Scoter is the plainest-plumaged but perhaps the most vocal of the three scoters that visit Michigan's big waters. The drake is entirely glossy black except for a striking swollen knob of orange-yellow at the base of the bill, a "candy corn" bump that stands out at a distance; the female is dark brown with distinctly pale cheeks contrasting with a dark cap. Unlike the other scoters, drake Black Scoters give a clear, mournful, whistling call, and a flock on the water can produce a soft, musical chorus.
Black Scoters breed on tundra lakes and rivers in the far north and come south to winter on the coasts and large lakes, and in Michigan they occur as migrants and winter visitors on the Great Lakes and big inland lakes, usually offshore and often mixed with other scoters and diving ducks. They dive to feed on mollusks and other invertebrates. The species has declined and is now assessed as Near Threatened, so even the offshore rafts of these hardy sea ducks reflect a bird of growing conservation concern.
Dives to feed on mollusks — especially clams and mussels — along with crustaceans and aquatic insects, taken from the bottom of deep, cold water. It swallows hard-shelled prey whole and crushes it in a powerful gizzard, foraging offshore on the Great Lakes and large lakes.
The drake is entirely glossy black with a bright orange-yellow knob at the base of the bill; the female is dark brown with pale cheeks contrasting with a dark cap. It lacks the white wing and head patches of the other scoters.
Yes — unusually for scoters, drake Black Scoters give a clear, mournful, whistling call, and a flock can produce a soft musical chorus on the water, which helps locate and identify them.
The Black Scoter has declined and is now assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, so its wintering rafts on the Great Lakes represent a species of growing concern despite still occurring regularly.
Juveniles and females are dark brown with a pale cheek and throat contrasting with a dark cap, and no trace of the adult male's yellow bill knob. Young males start showing the knob in their second winter.
A raft. Black Scoter rafts are famously vocal — the males give a mournful whistled call that gave them the old name of whistling coot.
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