Stejneger’s Scoter
Melanitta stejnegeri (Ridgway, 1887) (0, 1)
Photo © By Kim, Hyun-tae - https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2668803, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111593733
STATUS
Yenisey Basin to Kamchatka, north-east Kazakhstan and northern, western Mongolia. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Split from Velvet Scoter in 2005 (Sangster et al., Ibis 147: 822) with a further recent split of this species from White-winged Scoter M. deglandi making it a full species.
Identified by black rather than brown flanks (deglandi also has brown-tinged scapulars), a more obvious hook "nose" and a longer white post-ocular mark with a different bill coloration.
BBRC RECORDS
1.0) 2022 Lothian Gullane Point, adult male, 10th to 12th December, photo; same, Ferny Ness, 13th to 14th December; same, Aberlady Bay, 17th to 20th December.
(K. Gillon, Scottish Birds 43: 190-192, plates 150, 151 a & b; BOURC (2024), Ibis: in prep.).
1.1) 2023 Fife Largo Bay, adult male, 24th April to 13th May, photo; presumed same as Lothian.
(Scottish Birds 43: plates 207 a-d & 208; BOURC (2024), Ibis: in prep.).
1.2) 2023 Lothian Musselburgh, adult male, 12th August to 5th September, again, 23rd September; presumed returning individual.
(birding information services).
