Jeff and Allison Wells
Wed, 03/10/2021 - 11:00am
Birds, like scoters, that winter along our Maine coast may see polar bears during their migratory journey north through Hudson and James Bay. Photo courtesy of Traveling Otter from Wikimedia Commons.
Black scoters are a common wintering bird along the Atlantic Coast of North America including along the Maine coast, but they stop over during migration along the Hudson-James Bay coast. From The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds by Richard Crossley, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
A careful scan of the ocean here in mid-coast Maine in late winter (or “early spring,” if you are more of the hopeful bent) will often yield a bonanza of sea ducks. The males will often be in or near their peak breeding season finery as they work to impress females before setting off on their northward journeys to the nesting grounds. White-winged, surf, and black scoters are among the larger-bodied of these sea ducks that begin amassing in higher numbers along the Maine coast in March and April. They will soon be headed to the Boreal Forest region of Canada and Alaska to nest.