The White-winged Scoter is the largest and most frequent of the three scoters that visit Michigan's big waters, a heavy-bodied sea duck built for diving in cold, rough conditions. The drake is mostly black, relieved by a bold white wing patch (often hidden at rest but flashing in flight) and a small white comma-shaped mark curling up from below the eye; the female is dark brown with two pale patches on the face. Its heavy, sloping bill is adapted for wrenching mollusks from the bottom.
Scoters breed on northern lakes and tundra and come south to winter on large, deep water, and in Michigan the White-winged Scoter is chiefly a migrant and winter visitor on the Great Lakes and big inland lakes, often in loose flocks offshore. It dives to considerable depths to feed on mollusks — especially clams and zebra and quagga mussels in the Great Lakes — swallowing them whole and crushing the shells in its muscular gizzard. Picking scoters out of the offshore rafts is a highlight of cold-season lake watching.
Dives to feed on mollusks — clams and mussels chief among them, including the abundant zebra and quagga mussels of the Great Lakes — along with crustaceans and aquatic insects. It swallows hard-shelled prey whole and crushes the shells in its powerful gizzard, foraging on the bottom of deep, cold water.
It is a large, dark sea duck. The drake is black with a white wing patch (obvious in flight) and a white comma below the eye; the female is dark brown with two pale face spots. The white in the wing separates it from the other scoters.
In migration and winter on the Great Lakes and large inland lakes, usually offshore in loose flocks on deep, open water. It breeds on northern lakes and tundra and is absent in summer.
Mostly mollusks, including clams and the abundant introduced zebra and quagga mussels, which it swallows whole and crushes in its gizzard, along with crustaceans and aquatic insects taken on deep dives.
Young birds are dull brown with two pale patches on the face and a dark bill, lacking the adult male's white eye comma and knobbed orange bill. The white wing patch shows in flight on all ages.
A raft, and scoter rafts typically travel in strung-out lines low over the water rather than in tight bunches. Lakewatching in late fall is the best way to see them.
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