![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/WhiteWingedScoterMaleBronteHarbourMarchonjNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe singularly unimaginative name of this rather simply coloured duck is White-winged Scoter.<\/p>\n
Why White-winged Scoter? Why Not Comma-eye? Or Bumpy-beak?<\/h2>\n
Frankly, I\u2019m not sure this is the best possible name for this duck. According to Peterson’s Field Guide<\/strong>, the white on the wing is not always visible when the bird is on the water. The vivid white comma around the eye of the male Scoter is really obvious, though. However, the female doesn\u2019t have the comma, just some random lighter patches on her face. The mature male also has a funny knob at the base of the beak, a bit like a Mute Swan. But it\u2019s surprisingly difficult to see at a distance, and these ducks tend towards the shy side of the spectrum.<\/p>\n My next puzzle was: what is a Scoter? I\u2019m familiar with the word scooter, and rather envy the kids who bomb around the block on them. Scoter though is new to me. (Although there are three types of Scoters in my Peterson\u2019s: Surf, Black and White-winged.) Off I went to the internet to take a gander. Rats. Merriam-Webster says the origin of the word is unknown. It\u2019s been in use since about 1674 though! (For those who are puzzled by that these birds are also in Europe and Asia.)<\/p>\n Webster\u2019s did offer the interesting tidbit that the White-winged Scoters are also called Velvet Scoters and are worldwide in distribution. Velvet sounds way cool. Frankly the ones I saw, though, looked like most of the nap had been worn off years ago.<\/p>\n The Oxford Dictionary online says it\u2019s possible that the word is a mistaken form of the word \u201csooter\u201d referring to the black plumage. After over 300 years it\u2019s hard to know.<\/p>\n This one is the female. She’s brown and has less white on the face and a more normal bill.<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve seen these Scoters from several parks in Toronto, Mississauga and Oakville this winter. They often were fairly far out, however, and in the early days I didn\u2019t know what to look for in the markings. However, I know for sure I saw them off J.C. Saddington Park in Mississauga and Bronte Outer Harbour marina in Oakville. That\u2019s where I took the out-of-focus photos.<\/p>\n Unlike the Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead and Mergansers, I rarely saw more than 1 or 2 pairs of these ducks on a ramble. They may raft somewhere in the Lake, but if so it wasn\u2019t near shore when I was out for a walk. Since all the books talk about them wintering on the oceans, it\u2019s also possible that they aren\u2019t so common on the inland lakes.<\/p>\n Thanks to the Bird Id people at Outdoor.Ontario.net I also found out this one is a second year male White-winged Scoter. He’s developing the bill and eye markings.<\/p>\n Like most of the diving ducks I\u2019ve watched this winter, White-winged Scoters are known to eat mollusks. According to the Cornell University website, these Scoters will eat zebra mussels. They also have been known to eat crustaceans, some vegetation and fish.<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong> This diving duck is far less common on Lake Ontario in winter than most and the male has a most curious-looking bill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[25,972,113,53,302,112],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-birds","tag-bronte-outer-harbour","tag-diving","tag-ducks","tag-j-c-saddington","tag-white-winged-scoter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9690,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/9690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}White-winged Scoters on Lake Ontario at J.C. Saddington Park and Bronte Outer Harbour Marina<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\nHave you seen Scoters? Were they White Winged or one of the other types? Please share your experiences with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"