Background: Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus, Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata, Grey-cheeked Thrush Catharus minimus and Sooty Fox Sparrow Passerella unalaschcensis. American Scoter Melanitta americana, pair (sound-recorded), Nome, Alaska, USA, 2 June 2004 (Arnoud B van den Berg). Reports are still appearing as birders find time to check their sound-recording equipment throughout the day, and no doubt the final total of records will swell yet further.

It came as a major surprise to hear them so far from the sea in Portugal. Reaching the south coast, they have to decide whether to turn east along the coast or fly over land. Common Scoter Melanitta nigra, Vale Gonçalinho, Castro Verde, Portugal, 21:25, 11 March 2015 (Magnus Robb). We use cookies to improve your experience of this website by remembering your usage preferences, collecting statistics, and targeting relevant content.

A huge overland passage of Common Scoter occurred overnight on 1-2 April 2020, with the epicentre of this thrilling movement situated in the northern half of England. Calls of flock migrating at night.

While it's impossible to put an accurate figure on just how many birds were involved, many thousands of scoter must have seized the opportunity presented by the night's calm weather conditions to commence spring migration towards their Arctic breeding grounds. By listening and sound recording at night, we can detect Common Scoters in places where we would never find any during the day, a long, long way from the sea. Bergman, G & Donner, K O 1964. At closer range we can hear strange wheezing sounds that accompany the whistles; Common Scoter has nothing remotely similar. If you continue to use this site we’ll assume you’re happy to receive all cookies. The sound made me think of ducks or waders.

With a tailwind, they have even been known to reach ground speeds of up to 170 km/hour. Background: Eurasian Eagle Owl Bubo bubo and distant village dogs. Poole Breeds on tundra lakes; winters at sea in coastal bays, estuaries, harbors. Common Scoter Melanitta nigra, Mina de São Domingos, Mértola, Portugal, 22:03, 12 March ... you can see a clear difference in shape.

This time there were only four whistles, and had it not been for my previous experience, I might have dismissed them as distant midwife toads Alytes or something else. By 10 pm reports were already beginning to filter out of Yorkshire, with the first flocks appearing overhead in Northumberland shortly after this.

That first time I heard Common Scoters in Portugal they passed at 22:03, having flown a minimum of 52 km from the coast. Whistling display calls of males. Northern Pintail Anas acuta, Old Town Poole, Dorset, England, 00:07, 11 March 2017 (Paul Morton). At sea, Common Scoters fly with a mean air speed of 84 km/hour.

Here is a recording of a flock of pintail passing over the Old Town listening station in Poole, Dorset, recorded by Paul Morton.

While it's unlikely that such an intense passage will occur again this spring, flocks can nonetheless still be expected as April progresses.

These were Common Scoters Melanitta nigra taking a short cut across the Iberian interior. Calls of males in a migrating flock. Common Scoter The name of this duck makes it sound boring and commonplace, but it is anything but. Map of Common Scoter records during the night of 2-3 April 2020.

Have you seen something interesting? BH15 1HJ

Assuming they gained height and attained a speed closer to 92 km/hour (their mean air speed over land in Finland; Bergman & Donner 1964) they could have flown c754 km and 812 km by sunrise, respectively. Click Submit to share your rare bird sightings via our simple form.

Rarely seen inland on fresh water, mainly during migration periods.

© 2020 BirdGuides, Warners Group Publications Plc. Free, global bird ID and field guide app powered by your sightings and media. Scoter were also already at the western edge of the Peak District in Derbyshire by 9.15 pm, according to Hadfield resident Alex Lees. Are there any other nocturnal migrants that we could confuse with Common Scoter? An analysis of the spring migration of the Common Scoter and the Long-tailed Duck in southern Finland. HBW Alive will end its services on 11 May 2020 and the website will be closed definitively.

Take Merlin with you in the field!

The single weak, short call in the following recording seems to be virtually all that males ever produce.

It winters at sea in coastal areas from the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and Atlantic coasts from the Lofotens in Norway to Western Sahara. In sonagrams, you can see a clear difference in shape. A flock migrating overland, with only male calls audible. How many flocks of Common Scoter are passing unnoticed over the British Isles and western France at night? Overnight on 2-3 April, another major overland passage of Common Scoter occurred. 1) Mina de São Domingos, Mértola, Portugal, 22:03, 12 March 2012; 2) Vale Gonçalinho, Castro Verde, Portugal, 21:25, 11 March 2015. Common Scoter Melanitta nigra, Möklinta, Uppland, Sweden, 01:47, 14 April 2012 (Magnus Robb). Bergman & Donner (1964) studied the phenomenon with radar, both day and night. Many thousands of Common Scoter winter in the Irish Sea off the coasts of North Wales and north-west England (Elliot Montieth). Locations of the two Portuguese recordings of nocturnally migrating Common Scoter Melanitta nigra, showing assumed direction of travel. At first I had no idea what I was hearing, except that this was clearly a flock.

One night when I was trying to record Common Barn Owls Tyto alba breeding in the old mineheads I heard some strange whistling sounds approaching. It may even have been the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Once again, many birders enjoyed house or garden ticks as scoter moved overhead.

All Rights Reserved. Unless each of these flocks had a second species lurking amongst the scoters, these recordings suggest that nocturnally migrating Common Scoters sometimes give long calls instead of, or as well as the more familiar peep notes. If they continued until sunrise (c 6:15), the first flock would have flown another 8 hours and 12 minutes and the second flock 8 hours 50. Note considerably more records from the Greater London area (BirdGuides.com data). Fairly common sea duck; feeds by diving. Background: Ural Owl Strix uralensis. In a European context, the only species that has migration calls likely to cause confusion with Common Scoter is Northern Pintail Anas acuta. American Scoter Melanitta americana, Seward peninsula, Alaska, USA, 10:36, 2 June 2004 (Arnoud B van den Berg).

Velvet Scoter M fusca is a notoriously silent species; we have struggled to record any of its sounds at all. With sunset on the south coast just after 18:30 at that time of year, these flocks’ departures from the coast took place three and two hours after sunset, respectively.

But large numbers arrive off the coasts of Britain from their tundra breeding grounds across Scandinavia and Russia. Occurs locally in flocks of hundreds, but also found as singles and small groups. Massive Common Scoter Movement Takes Place. Almost continuous, clearly audible calls to the ear for past 20 minutes!" Background: Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, European Robin Erithacus rubecula, Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs and Common Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus. Here is a recording from Utö, one of the outermost islets of south-western Finland. Nick also made one recording in autumn, on 6 September 2016. The geographical distribution of records during the night suggests that the vast majority of birds were moving between the northern Irish Sea and North Sea coast of northern England; with two clear 'flyways' emerging: the first, perhaps involving birds that had wintered off the North Wales coast, moving inland over the Mersey and Wirral area, cutting across the Peak District to the Humber and out to sea over Spurn; the second, involving birds using the Solway Firth to cross into Northumberland before reaching the coast.

When faced with adverse weather conditions, migrant groups of Common Scoter will often drop in at inland waterbodies in both spring and late summer/autumn (Robin Brace).
For about two weeks in May each year, this species and Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis account for the great majority of all birds flying over southern Finland at night.

And what about the rest of the night? Background: Southern Tree Frog Hyla meridionalis. A very large part of the world population passes through southern Fennoscandia and the Baltic twice a year, traveling between breeding grounds in northern Russia and wintering grounds to the south-west.
However, there were fewer records from northern England than the previous night, even if it was apparent that many were still passing. Male distinctive: wholly black with raised knob at base of bill, yellow wedge on top of bill.

At least 60 sites, the vast majority in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Northumberland, logged the species, with some localities reporting that multiple flocks were passing over on a near-constant basis for extended periods of time during the night. You can read a general introduction to noc-migging here, while also learn about the calls of Common Scoter and other regularly encountered nocturnally migrating species here. The minimum distance from either recording location to the Bay of Biscay is just over 650 km. A flock passed just before 02:00. In contrast to the previous night, it was evident that many more birds were crossing southern England between the Severn and Thames estuaries, with many records from the Home Counties and even over London suburbs, some involving multiple flocks. Finland is probably the country where you can hear nocturnal migration of Common Scoter at its most impressive.

If you have any recording equipment, noc-migging for scoter and other night-flying migrants is a great way to diversify your home birding and add species to your garden list. Background: Common Redshank Tringa totanus, Common Gull Larus canus, Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea and White Wagtail Motacilla alba. The Sound Approach aim to popularise birdsong and raise standards in the use of sounds in bird identification.

I found this very surprising.

I was staying the night at a steppe reserve called Vale Gonçalinho, and my microphones were set up for a pair of Little Owls Athene vidalii.

Between 18 March and 19 April (various years), he has made seven recordings at Portland and one at Stobrough. Over land, where they tend to fly much higher in less dense air, they achieve speeds around 10% faster. We have not knowingly recorded females in any of our migration recordings.


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