Bird of the Week – Black Scoter

We’ll start the New Year with a new duck. Most Alaskans are unaware of the clade of scoters, genus Melanitta. That’s okay, science doesn’t know very much about them either. The Black Scoter is one of the three scoter species that breed in Alaska. The Black Scoter drake in breeding plumage is easy to identify: it’s the only black duck with two-thirds of the top if its bill – technically, its culmen – bright yellow and the rest black. Black Scoters breed in coastal zones and less commonly up the Yukon and Tanana drainages. WC has found nesting birds on…