Steller's Scoter
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Steller’s
Scoter, Melanitta stellerii L 45-60 cm, WS 75-80 cm, W 900-2100
g, Family: Anatidae
IUCN Conservation Status:
Near
threatened (NT)
Description:
Large,
dark sea duck with an elongated face and elaborate bill. Breeding males are
mostly black, with dark brownish sides, blue-white eyes, and a narrow white
eye-stripe. Bill is ornately patterned in yellow and white with a red tip and
black base, as well as a large yellow knob above the nostrils. Females are
brownish overall with brown eyes, a dull gray bill lacking a knob, and
occasionally two white patches below the eye. Young males similar to breeding
males but with browner flanks and no eye stripe. Immatures similar to females,
but with more white speckling. Sloped forehead and large bill and lead to
confusion with eiders, especially females. Best distinguished from other
scoters by yellow bill knob, when present, or its smoothly sloped head profile.
Voice:
Generally
silent. Males will emit low gurgling calls during courtship and females will
crow when protecting young chicks.
Range and Habitat:
Breeds
in lakes and wetlands across western Novasola, and winters along the coasts. Scoters
nest on shallow lakes, marshes, and other wetlands, especially with dense
vegetation along the shores. In winter they prefer coastal inlets, bays,
estuaries, and protected or shallow ocean water. Can occasionally be found
further out to sea, though uncommonly.
Discussion:
One
of five scoter species found in Novasolan waters, the endemic Steller’s Scoter
is the only one to breed on the island in large numbers. Easily distinguished
by its obvious black and yellow bill with a large yellow knob at the base, this
medium-sized duck is a fairly common bird in marine and inland waters, but they
are most easily observed in winter when they form large flocks on the coast. Despite
their relative abundance, Steller’s Scoters are listed as near threatened, and
their populations have seen marginal declines since at least the 1980s.
During
the non-breeding season, Steller’s Scoters will form flocks, often with other
sea duck species, especially other scoters. While in these flocks they will
perform courtship displays, which include large group flights and acrobatic
aerial dives as well as head raises and wing flaps while on the water. As the
breeding season begins scoters will form monogamous pairs wherein the female
builds a nest and incubates the eggs while the male brings her food and fends
off rivals until the eggs hatch, when the male separates from the female, leaving
her to raise the chicks. Females build nests by choosing or digging a small
depression in the soil among dense, usually woody vegetation on the shore which
they fill with grasses and down feathers. Broods may remain on one body of
water or move between multiple nearby water bodies until the molt season. Females
care for broods only by warding off predators or other dangers, and strangely
it is common for chicks to switch between broods, accidentally or otherwise. Because
the female is essentially no different from a bodyguard, it makes little
evolutionary difference in which broods the chicks are raised.
Scoters
migrate in the fall to the coasts, stopping in large lakes, sheltered inlets,
estuaries, and deltas where they molt their flight feathers. During this time
the ducks are completely flightless until the new feathers grow in. The
greatest abundance of Steller’s Scoters during this time can be found in the
Great Shadow Lake.
Steller’s
Scoters eat a varied diet, mostly of aquatic invertebrates. During the breeding
season, Steller’s Scoters eat mostly crustaceans, insects, and aquatic
vegetation. During the winter, the bulk of their diet consists of clams,
mussels, oysters, scallops, crustaceans, and small fish. Like other sea ducks,
scoters dive underwater for their food, and their large bill is well-adapted
for prying clams or mussels from the rocks or sea floor. They will swallow
smaller food items whole while still underwater, but they will take larger
items to the surface, and scoters are often observed manipulating larger
shellfish in their bills. They may stay underwater for two minutes searching for
or capturing prey. In marine ecosystems scoters will dive up to 25 meters, but
will usually stay close to shore, and in freshwater breeding areas lone adults
will forage in deeper water while broods tend to stay in shallow, sheltered
water.
Named
for the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, the scoter was first “discovered”,
that is excluding indigenous experiences and knowledge, by Steller in 1741
while he was on a Russian expedition exploring the Bering Sea. He described
seeing a number of the birds in the waters around the Aleutian islands, which may
suggest that the scoter historically had a wider distribution, because they are
now uncommon that far north. In recent years there has been an international
push to change all eponymous bird names in an attempt to remove
"ownership" of species and not to honor problematic historical
figures; those who wish to see this bird's common name changed prefer the name
"Novasola Scoter”. Indigenous cultures across the western coasts have
traditionally hunted them for food, and the Taiyalun word for the bird is waiginkangadik,
which roughly translated to “ocean mussel duck”.
Richard
Reichwald observed great numbers of Steller’s Scoters during the second NRC expedition,
and became the first person to write about their nesting and breeding habits.
Until then, the scoters were known mostly from observations in molting and
winter habitats along the coasts or in Great Shadow Lake, and no one had
written about their nests or breeding habitat.
“To my surprise the pond was near overflowing with sea ducks. Steller’s Scoters, which I have known only from marine waters, were here in great numbers. Males were foraging in the center of the pond, far enough from shore I had trouble observing them, though their bills betrayed them. My interests, however, were for the ducks closer to shore. These were females with chicks. I have found no records of young scoters in preparation for this mission, and am gladdened to put this mystery to the past.” - Expedition log, June 15, 1903
“Throughout
this leg of the trip, we have encountered many squadrons of seaducks, most
commonly eiders and scoters. The middle-sized scoter, the Steller’s, outnumbers
the other birds of its cohort greatly.” – Expedition log, October 2,
1903
“The
nests of Steller’s Scoters are well camouflaged under brambles and shrubs at
the edges of small lakes and ponds. They prefer to build nests below thorny
vegetation like roses and blackberries, and often with dense cover such that
the nest is entirely obstructed from above.
…
Unbothered
by the turbulent waters, scoters dive with graceful precision to forage for
mollusks and crustaceans beneath crashing waves. They may often be observed in
rocky crags, riding surf but buffeted from the largest waves.” – Native Birds
of Novasola, 1912
“The
males, in their breeding plumage, are distinguished by their preposterous bills,
strikingly orange and knobbed at the base. Their jet-black bodies are adorned
with a velvety sheen which shimmers with hues of copper when touched by the
pale sunlight. The females, demure in comparison, are mottled brown and provide
a sharp contrast to the males' opulence. Their eyes are less conspicuous than
the males.” – Manual of Novasolan Birds, 1914