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In the spring off
Vancouver island they feed extensively on herring
eggs--75,000 gluttonous scoters could conceivably
ingest 16.5 tons of roe a day.
During the northward passage, drakes viciously peck at rivals,
and bickering and displaying cause considerable splashing.
Short display flights terminate in skidding stops near prospective mates,
and females are commonly wooed by a number of suitors.
Drakes defend mates and constantly remain close
to them, even if their partners are wounded.
Prime breeding habitat consists of a variety of wetlands in
boreal forests or tundra, generally in sparsely wooded terrain.
Lake islands are favored and nests are
invariably well concealed in rather inaccessible vegetation
near the timberline, or in heavier
woodlands under the low-spreading branches of pine or spruce trees.
Laid in late June and July, Surf
Scoter eggs were not viewed by naturalists until just over a century ago,
and downy young remained undescribed until 1920.
In dense nesting regions, broods may merge into crechès of up to 30 ducklings
under the care of a single female, but brood merging is not typical in most areas,
because nesting pairs are more scattered.
Progeny are sometimes abandoned before being fully fledged.
Once mates are deserted during incubation,
males engage in molt migrations to coastal waters.
Considerable numbers gather along the east coast of Labrador,
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off Vancouver island.
In 1878, a single molting flock in Alaska was estimated to be
ten miles long and more than a half-mile wide.
While Surf Scoters remain reasonably numerous,
there is evidence of a considerable decline in the
early part of the century.
A decline may be still be occurring, especially in the northwest,
possibly due to pollution losses at sea.
Least numerous of the scoters worldwide, the population was estimated at
765,000 in the mid-1970s.
About 650,000 gathered in British Columbia alone in March of 1978,
and spring assemblages in Long Island waters formerly reached 129,000 birds.
The vulnerable ducks all too frequently fall victim to oil spills.
I have toiled with hundreds of oiled scoters (primarily
males) over the years, and regard them among the most
difficult of waterfowl to rehabilitate.
Nevertheless, they are quite hardy,
and I kept a drake for over a decade in San Diego.
The ancient male was ultimately sent to a Canadian aviculturist,
who maintained the entire global captive population of
merely three Surf Scoters in 1995.
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 Until recently, only a handful of Surf Scoter nests had ever been seen.
While often poorly constructed and sparsely lined with down,
nests can also be well built of weeds, with cups spanning six inches.
Pairs arrive on the breeding grounds from mid-May onwards,
but eggs may not be laid until the last
week of June. (Photo by Austin Reed)
 Due to their distinct black-and-white pattern,
Surf Scoters were formerly known as Skunk-ducks
and Skunk-head Coots.
The white forehead and nape patches and large,
multicolored drake bills are
clearly evident from a considerable distance.
Full adult male coloration is not attained until about 28
months of age.
 Surf Scoter with recent brood (Alaska).
Their breeding stronghold is located in interior northern
Canada, where they overlap the nesting range of the other two scoters.
Females and juveniles depart the
northern breeding grounds in September.
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