Scoter

For ships named Scoter, see USS Scoter and USFS Scoter.

Scoters
Adult male white-winged scoter (Melanitta deglandi)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Subfamily:	Merginae
Genus:	Melanitta F. Boie, 1822
Species
See text
Synonyms
Oidemia

The scoters are stocky seaducks in the genus Melanitta. The drakes are mostly black and have swollen bills. Females are brown. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek melas "black" and netta "duck".

They breed in the far north of Europe, Asia, and North America, and winter farther south in temperate zones of those continents. They form large flocks on suitable coastal waters. These are tightly packed, and the birds tend to take off together.

Their lined nests are built on the ground close to the sea, lakes or rivers, in woodland or tundra. These species dive for crustaceans and molluscs.

Species

There are six species, grouped into two subgenera:

Image	Subgenus	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Oidemia	Melanitta americana	black or American scoter	north of North America in Labrador and Newfoundland to the southeast Hudson Bay
	Oidemia	Melanitta nigra	common scoter	north of Europe and Asia east to the Olenyok River
	Melanitta	Melanitta fusca	velvet scoter	eastern Turkey, Europe as far south as Great Britain, and on the Black and Caspian Sea.
	Melanitta	Melanitta deglandi	white-winged scoter	North America.
	Melanitta	Melanitta stejnegeri	Stejneger's scoter	far north of Asia east of the Yenisey Basin.
	Melanitta	Melanitta perspicillata	surf scoter	North America, mostly in Northern Canada and Alaska

The presumed fossil "scoter" Melanitta ceruttii, which lived in California during the Late Pliocene, is now placed in the genus Histrionicus.