Black Scoter

Black Scoter aka. Common Scoter
Richmond Marina, Richmond, California, USA
January 2019
Member of the Ducks, Geese, and Swans Family
§A Flush of Ducks§

[Etymology Corner] Common Scoter is a little bit of an archaic name, but it's also grossly inaccurate, since this is the least common of the three North American scoters. The Eastern Hemisphere version of this duck is still called that over there. I bet you thought I was going to tell you where the word 'Scoter' came from here, but nope. There doesn't seem to be any explanation of the origin out there, it's just a word that's used for this genus of sea ducks.

~True Bird Fact~ In France, Roman Catholics were allowed by their church to eat this bird on Fridays (on which you normally can't eat non-fish meats). The reasoning is that they have a 'fishy' taste to them, which raises some questions for me about what Catholics thought makes something a fish, and also makes me even less likely to eat this duck.

Another quote I saw a lot while researching this bird was a description of his call as a 'constant mellow, plaintive whistling', so to me that says that this bird has a real Jeff Bridges vibe, and I don't think any more personality speculation is needed.



How Endangered Are They? Well, not that endangered. They are considered near-threatened by the IUCN with a global population between 350,000 and half a million. However, their population is slowly declining, and they are threatened by oil and gas drilling, as well as climate change. So something to watch out for, at the very least.