Black Scoter

The Black Scoter is a chunky sea duck with a rounded head and compact bill. Adult males are entirely black except for a swollen yellow-orange knob at the bill base. Females are dark brown with distinctly pale cheeks and sides of the neck, contrasting with a dark cap. In flight the wings appear uniformly dark, lacking the white patch shown by several other scoter species (Wikipedia, general species account).

Black Scoters breed around northern freshwater lakes and pools, then migrate to shallow coastal seas for winter. They dive for bivalve molluscs, crustaceans and other bottom-dwelling prey, sometimes forming very large offshore rafts. Birds must run across the surface to become airborne. The species occurs along Japanese coasts in the non-breeding season, often mixed with other sea ducks (Wikipedia, general species account).