BLACK SCOTER Melanitta americana

The American form of Scoter, but also breeding in Siberia and Kamchatka. The areas are disjunct, in Alaska and Eastern Canada. All populations winter coastally to the south, to Japan, California and Florida. A rare vagrant to the UK, this has provided me with an opportunity to get a record shot of this species, the returnee for many years off Llanfairfechan in North Wales. The female was taken in North Carolina, but usually the problem with scoters is that they are well offshore.

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