Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Melanitta > Melanitta fusca

Melanitta fusca (White-winged Scoter; Velvet Scoter)

Synonyms: Anas fusca (homotypic); Fuligula fusca; Melanitta fusca parte (pro parte); Oedemia fusca; Oidemia fusca
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca), also called a velvet duck, is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and Asia west of the Yenisey basin.The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek melas "black" and netta "duck". The species name is from the Latin fuscus "dusky brown". The lined nest is built on the ground close to the sea, lakes or rivers, in woodland or tundra, and typically contains 7–9 eggs. This duck dives for crustaceans and molluscs.
View Wikipedia Record: Melanitta fusca

Infraspecies

Melanitta fusca deglandi (American white-winged scoter) (Attributes)
Melanitta fusca fusca (European white-winged scoter) (Attributes)
Melanitta fusca stejnegeri (Asiatic white-winged scoter)

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Melanitta fusca

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
2
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
16
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 5.01996
EDGE Score: 1.79508
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.885 lbs (1.762 kg)
Birth Weight [3]  55 grams
Breeding Habitat [2]  Boreal forests
Wintering Geography [2]  Coastal U.S./Canada
Wintering Habitat [2]  Coastal marine, Rocky intertidal
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Piscivore, Herbivore
Diet - Fish [4]  10 %
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  80 %
Diet - Plants [4]  10 %
Forages - Water Surface [4]  20 %
Forages - Underwater [4]  80 %
Clutch Size [6]  8
Clutches / Year [3]  1
Fledging [5]  60 days
Global Population (2017 est.) [2]  230,000
Incubation [3]  28 days
Mating System [8]  Monogamy
Maximum Longevity [3]  21 years
Migration [7]  Intracontinental
Snout to Vent Length [5]  22 inches (55 cm)
Speed [9]  44.962 MPH (20.1 m/s)
Wing Span [9]  38 inches (.97 m)
Female Maturity [3]  2 years
Male Maturity [3]  2 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (335)

Ecosystems

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Larus glaucescens (Glaucous-winged Gull)1
Melanitta perspicillata (Surf Scoter)2

Predators

Bubo scandiacus (Snowy Owl)[10]
Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald Eagle)[10]
Melanitta fusca (White-winged Scoter)[10]
Orcinus orca (Killer Whale)[10]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 8Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 9Alerstam T, Rosén M, Bäckman J, Ericson PGP, Hellgren O (2007) Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects. PLoS Biol 5(8): e197. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197
♦ 10Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 11Prey selection and its relationship to habitat and foraging strategy of molting White-winged (Melanitta fusca) and Surf Scoters (M. perspicillata) in Puget Sound, WA, and the Strait of Georgia, BC., Heather J. Tschaekofske, Masters Thesis, Evergreen State College, 2010
♦ 12Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 13International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0