Diet and habitat use of scoters Melanita in the Western Palearctic - a brief overview.

Abstract

If patterns of scoter distribution and abundance are to be understood,
there is a need to know upon which prey items these birds feed, how they
obtain these prey items and the habitats from which these food items are
m ost easily harvested. Dietary studies and descriptions of habitats
exploited by C o m m o n and Velvet Scoter in the non-breeding season are
reviewed. The existing literature strongly suggests that, outside of the
breeding season, these species forage mainly upon marine bivalve mol.