Numbers of scoters (black, surf, and white-winged) and long-tailed ducks wintering in the Maritime provinces of Canada and the Chesapeake Bay (MD and VA, USA) have noticeably declined in recent years. Common goldeneye populations have also declined, but bufflehead populations have increased in numbers.
More than half of North American sea duck populations have apparently declined over the past 2-3 decades, although reasons for declines are unknown. Population delineation (i.e., the links among breeding, molting, wintering, and staging areas) is critical information needed to design and interpret monitoring surveys, to better understand population ecology and population dynamics, and determine limiting factors and potential strategies to improve conservation status of sea ducks.
The Atlantic Seaduck Project is being conducted to learn more about the breeding and molting areas of seaducks in northern Canada and more about the feeding ecology of seaducks on wintering areas, especially Chesapeake Bay. Satellite telemetry is being used to track surf scoters wintering in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, and black scoters on migrational staging areas in New Brunswick, Canada, to breeding and molting areas in northern Canada
As constituted here, the tribe Mergini includes all the species which Delacour and Mayr (1945) originally placed in the group.
Delacour later (1959) removed the four species of eiders and placed them in a separate tribe, Somateriini, between the dabbling ducks and
pochards. This was done apparently as a result of Humphrey's anatomical studies (1955, 1958), which suggested that the eiders might
Anonymous. 2011 Bibliography of Mergus serrator - Linnaeus, 1758 (Red-breasted Merganser ) in Deomurari, A.N. (Compiler), 2010. AVIS-IBIS (Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System) v. 1.0. Foundation For Ecological Security, India retrieved on 11/10/2011
Anonymous. 2011 Bibliography of Mergus merganser - Linnaeus, 1758 (Common Merganser ) in Deomurari, A.N. (Compiler), 2010. AVIS-IBIS (Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System) v. 1.0. Foundation For Ecological Security, India retrieved on 11/10/2011
Anonymous. 2011 Bibliography of Clangula hyemalis - Linnaeus, 1758 (Long-tailed Duck ) in Deomurari, A.N. (Compiler), 2010. AVIS-IBIS (Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System) v. 1.0. Foundation For Ecological Security, India retrieved on 11/10/2011
Anonymous. 2011 Bibliography of Bucephala clangula - Linnaeus, 1758 (Common Goldeneye ) in Deomurari, A.N. (Compiler), 2010. AVIS-IBIS (Avian Information System - Indian BioDiversity Information System) v. 1.0. Foundation For Ecological Security, India retrieved on 11/10/2011
Academy Of Natural Sciences Of P. 1998. Surf Scoter: Melanitta perspicillata. Birds of North America 0(363):1-28.