Common Scoter

Melanitta nigra

Common passage migrant & Winter visitors with 100,00 birds in Britain.

Rare breeder in Northern Scotland & North West Ireland.

 Also winters in Portugal, very scarce in Eastern Spain.

Few pairs also breed in Iceland.

The Male is all black with a bulbous bill which shows some yellow coloration around the nostrils.

The Female is a brown bird with pale cheeks, very similar to a Female Red-crested Pochard.

One other feature that seperates this from the other Scoters, during the wing flap they add the head dip below the level of the body.

In flight, they generally look all dark.