Duck ID

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by htcdude

Common Scoter - Melanitta nigra
Black Scoter - Melanitta americana

Considered subspecies (although I don't know if official):

European Black Scoter - Melanitta nigra nigra
Pacific Black Scoter - Melanitta nigra americana

No idea what the consensus is on these, but I think the Black Scoter is considered by some as a subspecies to Common.

Nige

I would think that the general consensus of 'the man on the street' would be "Who cares? What is a Scoter?".
The general concensus among those who take such matters seriously though is that the two forms, which were previously treated as a single species, should be considered seperate species:

Originally Posted by htcdude

Common Scoter - Melanitta nigra
Black Scoter - Melanitta americana

This 'split' has been adopted by (among others) the British Ornithologists Union and the American Ornithologists Union, and the two are shown as seperate species in the IOU (International Ornithologists Union) World List, and Clements World List.

[htcdude]

Kool thanks for clearing that up Roy

Nige

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by Ferret

It’s a female Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, the head shape is wrong for Scaup Aythya marila, which has a very rounded head, and you can see the hint of a tuft that female Tufted Ducks show. The white around the bill would completely surround the bill in Scaup, this bird only shows a white crescent above the base of the bill which is well within the normal variation of female tufted Duck which can show a lot of white around the base of the bill but does not completely surround it as it does on female Scaup. You can see the pale band across the end of the bill which is not present in Scaup but is in Tufted Duck.

Ferret

Well that clears that up then because with that amount of white on the face my first thought would have been a definate scaup. Luckilly there where males and females mixed with my only previous scaup else i would have been un-ticking today.

[Snidge]

Wow. Sorry to set things off at a tangent. We do have scoters inland up here in the summer (Moray) but I accept my i/d was wrong. I have now also learned my prized and author signed 'wildfowl of the world' book is out of date as well.