Stejneger's scoter (''Melanitta stejnegeri''), also known as the Siberian scoter, is a large

sea duck The sea ducks (Mergini) are a tribe of the duck subfamily of birds, the Anatinae. The taxonomy of this group is incomplete. Some authorities separate the group as a subfamily, while others remove some genera. Most species within the group spend ...

. The genus name is derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''melas'' "black" and ''netta'' "duck".

Taxonomy

Stejneger's scoter was described by the American ornithologist

Robert Ridgway Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of birds ...

in 1887 and given the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Oidemia stejnegeri''. The specific name was chosen to honour the Norwegian born ornithologist

Leonhard Stejneger Leonhard Hess Stejneger (30 October 1851 – 28 February 1943) was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with repti ...

. It was formerly considered to be

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the

white-winged scoter The white-winged scoter (''Melanitta deglandi'') is a large Merginae, sea duck. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ''melas'' "black" and ''netta'' "duck". The species name commemorates French ornithologist Côme-Damien Degland. Descri ...

. It was suggested to be a full species, according to a new study.

Description

There are a number of differing characteristics of Stejneger's scoter and the

. Males of the white-winged scoter have browner flanks, dark yellow coloration of most of the bill and a less tall bill knob, approaching the velvet scoter. The male Stejneger's scoter has a very tall knob at the base of its mostly orange-yellow bill. The males of both species are very similar and best distinguished by head shape; White-winged scoters tend to have "two-stepped" profile between the bill and the head, compared to the long "Roman nose" profile of Stejneger's scoter similar to that of a

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

. Additionally, the feathering along the base of the upper mandible forms a right angle on the white-winged scoter, compared to the acute angle on the Stejneger's scoter.

Distribution

Stejneger's scoter breeds over the far north of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

east of the

Yenisey The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

Basin. It winters further south in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

zones, in Asia as far south as China. It forms large flocks on suitable coastal waters. These are tightly packed, and the birds tend to take off together. Though previously considered rare in North America, Stejneger's scoter may be a regular visitor and possible breeder in Western Alaska, with sightings in

Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

, Saint Paul Island and Gambell. A Stejneger's Scoter was seen in Helena Valley, Montana between April and May 2015, the only confirmed North American occurrence of the species south of Alaska. A scoter seen in Monterey Bay, California on January 15, 2014, appeared to have characteristics consistent with Stejneger's scoter but the record was not accepted by the committee due to the poor quality of images. Stejneger’s scoter is also a rare vagrant to Europe and has been recorded from France, Finland, Poland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and Scotland.

Behaviour and ecology

Feeding

In freshwater, this species primarily feeds on

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s; while in saltwater areas, it feeds on

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s and

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q55111784 Stejneger's scoter Birds of North Asia Stejneger's scoter Stejneger's scoter