or sea coot
Any of three species (genus Melanitta ) of diving duck that are mainly marine except during the breeding season.
The males are shiny black. The surf scoter ( Melanitta perspicillata ) breeds in the forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska and winters on seacoasts as far south as Florida and southern California. The white-winged, or velvet, scoter ( M. deglandi , or fusca ) and the black, or common, scoter ( M. nigra ) occur north of the equator nearly worldwide. All three feed mainly on marine animals such as clams.