The Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) is an entirely black sea duck, the male coal-black all over with only a yellow patch on the black knob of the bill breaking the colour. It measures roughly 44–54 cm in length, has a wingspan of about 79–90 cm and weighs 900–1,400 grams. The female and young birds are dark brown, with a distinctly paler cheek and throat contrasting against a darker crown. The Common Scoter entirely lacks white wing patches, an important mark separating it from the closely related Velvet Scoter; it sits low in the water and dives quickly and often, and in flight flocks form long, wavy bands low over the sea surface — in backlight a flock can appear uniformly dark, but the absence of white in the wing remains reliable once the birds are seen reasonably close.
The male has a characteristic soft, fluting and somewhat melancholic call, often rendered "piu-piu," heard well from migrating and resting flocks, especially during the spring display, while the female gives a harsher, croaking call. The Common Scoter breeds at mountain lakes and mire pools in northern Sweden's forest and mountain region, with a breeding population of only 1,000–5,000 pairs, but it is far more conspicuous as a passage migrant, when very large numbers move along the south and west coasts in spring and autumn — good watch points include Falsterbo and Kullen in Skåne — and some birds winter in Swedish waters. The nest is built on the ground near water, well hidden in vegetation, with a usual clutch of 6–8 eggs that the female incubates and tends alone; the precocial chicks are led to water soon after hatching. As a diving duck it lives on mussels, crustaceans, snails and other bottom animals, favouring mussel banks and regularly diving to depths of 10–20 metres, sometimes deeper, swallowing mussels whole and crushing them in its powerful muscular stomach.
Read about this species in Swedish →