Other Names for the Velvet Duck are: White Winged Duck, Bull Coot and White Winged Coot. The scientific name for the Velvet scoter is Melanitta fusca.
The French call the scoter, Macreuse brune, in Spanish it is Negrón especulado, in German Samtente, the Danes call the scoter Fløjlsand and in Norway they call it Sjøorre. The Swedish people call the Velvet Scoter, Svärta and in Iceland, known as Korpönd We do not know the early history of the Scoters because people usually grouped them together as Coots or Black Ducks. The Scoter is any one of different species of northern sea ducks like the velvet, or double scoter. The common American species of Scoter are the Velvet Scoter, or White Winged Scoter.
The Velvet Scoter with a length of about 20 inches and a wingspan of about three feet is the largest of three dark colored marine ducks commonly called Sea Coots along the Atlantic Sea Coast and readily distinguished from the other two by its white wing bars and very familiar to waterfowl hunters. The Velvet Scoter is muscular and powerfully built. With its strong body frame, tough skin with strong feathers they are very effective swimmers because they use both their legs, feet and wing while searching for food.
The adult male is shiny, delicate black, with a white iridescent area on each wing, and a white strip behind each eye. Also they show white secondaries while in flight. The adult female has a dark bill and ivory strip in front of and behind the eye. She displays brown plumage and pale white stomach, and has the white patch on her wings.
The markings of immature Velvet Scoter is similar to the female, with off-white belly and clearer patches on their face. The adults have a long body, a thick lower neck and the upper necks look thin when stretched.
Because the Velvet Scoters bill is long with an expanded dark center creating a sloping head shape. Their black beak has a pale orange/yellow band along the sides.
The Velvet Scoter inhabits areas around the northern polar region except for Greenland, Northern Canada and Iceland. In Europe they do not inhabit areas of Northern Scandinavia.
The Velvet Scoter breeds in the far northern coniferous forest and the rolling treeless plains of northern Europe, Asia and North America. Its preferred habitat is near both trees and water. Some birds breed along the coast by brackish or salty water and normally breed later than the Eider Duck. Soon after breeding the Velvet Scoters molt and become flightless for about 25 days.
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