tags: courting black scoters, seaducks, Melanitta nigra, streaming video
A bird pal of mine, Al Wagar, who lives in the Seattle area, took this video of calling and courting black scoters, Melanitta nigra, that were on the coast near Edmonds, Washington. Black scoters are a large species of sea duck that dive for their dinner, eating mainly mollusks. They breed on ponds in northern boreal forests and spend the rest of their lives on oceans and salt water bays. Black scoter numbers show a long-term decline, possibly due to loss of boreal forest and coastal oil spills [0:43].
One of the cuter names I've run across for a group of ducks is "a paddling of ducks."
- Log in to post comments
More like this
tags: Save Our Boreal Birds, online petition, birds, conservation, environment
Palm Warbler, Dendroica palmarum.
Image: Jeff Nadler [larger view].
Save the summer homes of Palm Warblers and other North American bird species that breed in Canada's Boreal forests!
The Boreal Songbird Initiative,…
From Birdlife International:
Thousands of birds die in Black Sea oil spill
Thousands of birds and fish have been killed as oil spills from a stricken tanker in the northern Black Sea. At least 30,000 birds have died, and thousands more are covered in oil and face death in the coming days. The main…
tags: White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883…
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, relaxes on a people-watching and photography trip at the Port Aransas Birding Center, Texas.
Image: Scott Lewis [MUCH larger view].
Birds in Science
A £200,000 study into what…