Stejneger's Scoter

Melanitta stejnegeri (Ridgway, 1887)

≈52 cmLength1.8 kgWeight

This large sea duck has a very tall knob at the base of the bill in the male, whose bill is mostly orange-yellow.

Busiest months: May · Most records: Japan, Mongolia, China

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Male has a very tall knob at the base of the bill
Male has a mostly orange-yellow bill
Male has a long bill-to-head profile, like a “Roman nose”
Feather edges at the base of the upper mandible form an acute angle

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: Japan, Mongolia, China

Stejneger's Scoter has been recorded at 107 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 12 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Funabashi – Funabashi Sanbanze Seaside ParkJapan184 records
GambellUnited States170 records
Ugii Lake, Ugiinuur, Arkhangai, MNMongolia170 records

More places

Gun Galuut NRMongolia157 records
MeynypilgynoRussia92 records
Betsukai – Notsuke Peninsula – NarawaraJapan84 records
Hamanaka – Cape KiritappuJapan75 records
Baengnyeong-do (island)South Korea68 records
Betsukai – Notsuke Peninsula Nature CenterJapan62 records
Nemuro – Cape NosappuJapan51 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Japan Mongolia China United States South Korea Russia United Kingdom Poland

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

Stejneger's scoter (Melanitta stejnegeri), also known as the Siberian scoter, is a large sea duck. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek melas "black" and netta "duck".

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Stejneger's Scoter?

The Stejneger's Scoter is about ≈52 cm long and weighs around 1.8 kg.

Where does the Stejneger's Scoter live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: Yenisey Basin to Kamchatka (central, eastern Siberia), northeastern Kazakhstan and northern, western Mongolia. It is most often recorded in Japan, Mongolia and China.