White-winged Scoter

Melanitta fusca

Common throughout central and western Canada, the white-winged scoter prefers to spend much of its time on the water rather than land. They will only come ashore to nest, and will otherwise remain on the water not far from shore. They prefer salt-water coast to fresh water lakes. The white-winged scoter is the most common of all the scoters. It breeds widely in the Yukon and British Columbia, as well as Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Distribution of White-winged Scoter in Canada