Archive for seaducks

You are browsing the archives of seaducks.

Looking at Surf Scoters

By Charlie November 17, 2008 4 comments

It’s that time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere) when birders fortunate enough to visit the coast once again get a chance to see one of the most funky ducks in the world - the marvellous Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata. Surf Scoters breed in Alaska and northern Canada (they’re the only species of [...]

What is a Merganser?

By Mike January 20, 2008 4 comments

One of the sweetest subsections of the duck family has to be the sawbills, formally known as mergansers. Mergansers are a family of diving waterfowl in Merginae, the seaduck subfamily of Anatidae. Ironically, only one of these seaducks is truly a seafarer, the others favoring rivers and lakes. The name ‘merganser’ is said to have [...]

What is a Scoter?

By Mike December 30, 2006 4 comments

When winter rolls around and most of our breeding birds have departed for points south, we on North America’s temperate shores turn our attention away from the trees and toward the water. Winter means waterfowl. While any river, lake, or pond might harbor a greater abundance of ducks, geese, and swans, the excitement isn’t [...]