Imagine, if you will, a glance in the morning mirror and you’re greeted with this face. It’s bad enough as you really is, but this guy is truly remarkable, don’t you think? Surf scoters (sounds like ‘boaters’) are large birds, bill tip to tail almost 24” and one of three scoters here in the Salish Sea during the winter. I often see the three together, congregating on shallow bays where they dive for shellfish. Both genders are black, the male has one or two white head patches, female has dull whitish coloration on her face. If you study that large bill, it’s easy to understand how nature has evolved here. While scoters feed on herring smolt and other foods, they are really shellfish specialists – and that bill certainly could crack a clam, couldn’t it?

By early spring, surf scoters are off to their northern nesting grounds near freshwater lakes and wetlands in the Arctic. Here they build hidden nest depressions on the ground that are lined with down and usually produce about seven eggs. Lots of eggs often means high mortality, fewer eggs mean successful reproduction – and this is about in the middle. However, the female abandons her chicks before they can even fly, so I guess this proves they do okay. After breeding, males gather along the coast for feather molts when they grow a fresh set of clothes – and then head south to visit us again. Scoters went through a large population decline last century, probably due to pollution and hunting, but populations now appear stable. Consider the distances these birds travel when you enjoy them here.

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