Common scoter

Scientific name: Melanitta nigra

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Males are entirely black with a distinctive bright yellow-orange knob at the base of the bill and orange feet. Females are dark brown with paler cheeks and throat, lacking the male's prominent bill knob.

Size and weight

Males 43–51 cm, weighing 0.7–1.1 kg; females 38–46 cm, weighing 0.6–0.95 kg.

Habitat

Common scoters inhabit open water bodies—coastal seas, large lakes, and estuaries—preferring deep, sheltered waters with minimal vegetation. They breed on tundra pools and inland freshwater lakes in northern regions.

Distribution

Circumpolar breeder across northern Palearctic tundra; winters in coastal waters from the North Sea to the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean, with populations concentrated in sheltered bays and estuaries.

Diet

Scoters dive to feed primarily on benthic mollusks (mussels, cockles, snails) and small crustaceans, supplementing with aquatic insects and plant matter in freshwater breeding areas.

Behaviour

Highly gregarious and aquatic, forming large rafts on water year-round; they are most active at dawn and dusk but feed throughout daylight. Diving ducks that remain largely on water, rarely perching on land.

Hunting tips

Look for characteristic high-speed, low-level flight over water and massed rafts during dawn and dusk movements. Approach by boat during calm conditions; scoters are wary and require concealment and minimal noise. Decoying is effective; position near known feeding grounds in sheltered bays where birds congregate.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 4 countries in Huntify.

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.