Facts about Surf Scoter

1. 09

   Their specialized salt glands allow surf scoters to drink seawater and excrete excess salt through nasal passages, enabling them to survive year-round in marine environments.

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2. 08

   Flocks of surf scoters can number in the thousands along coastal bays and estuaries, where they gather in tight rafts while molting their feathers in late summer.

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3. 07

   Surf scoters produce distinctive grunting and croaking vocalizations during courtship, with males performing elaborate head-throwing displays to attract females on breeding grounds.

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4. 06

   Distinctive knobbed swellings on the bills of male surf scoters give the species its scientific name Melanitta perspicillata and serve as recognition features during courtship displays.

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5. 05

   Approximately 500,000 surf scoters winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, making them one of the most abundant sea duck species in the region.

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6. 04

   Surf scoter females incubate their clutches of five to eight eggs for approximately 29 days before chicks hatch in Arctic nesting colonies.

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7. 03

   Black and white plumage in adult male surf scoters takes approximately two years to fully develop from their juvenile brown coloring.

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8. 02

   During spring migration, surf scoters travel thousands of miles from wintering grounds in coastal North America to breeding areas in Arctic Canada and Alaska.

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9. 01

   Male surf scoters can dive to depths exceeding 200 feet while foraging for mollusks and crustaceans on the ocean floor.

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