Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra), Parker Dam, La Paz County

This Black Scoter discovered by Adam Searcy below Parker Dam on 26 October 2012 and was photographed the same day by David Vander Pluym.

The rarest of the three scoter species in Arizona with about 10 accepted records for the state. Most records are of female plumaged birds. The most recent AOU checklist split Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra) into two species. The species in North America and eastern Siberia is now called Black Scoter (Melanitta americana) and the species of Europe and the rest of Asia is called Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra). There are no records of Common Scoter in North America.

Dark cap with a contrasting pale cheek patch identifies this scoter. Yellow nostril likely indicates a young male.

26 October 2012, photo by David Vander Pluym

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