"Oidemia perspicillata. Surf Duck. Sea Coot. Adult male: Bill as above, singularly variegated in color, mostly white in pinkish, and orange, with a great round or squarish black spot on side near base; iris pale yellow; feet orange, with dusky webs. Plumage glossy black, duller below; no white on wings, but a triangular white patch on forehead, pointing forward, reaching to or beyond opposite eye, and another on nape, pointing downward. Young male resembles female, before the bill acquires distinctive shape and color. Female blackish, not tumid, feathers of culmen restricted, not reaching opposite nostrils; feet dark, tinged with reddish, the webs blackish. Plumage sooty-brown, below silvery-gray; side of head with much whitish, chiefly in two patches, loral and auricular; no frontal or nuchal white." Elliot Coues, 1884

Surf Duck

"Oidemia perspicillata. Surf Duck. Sea Coot. Adult male: Bill as above, singularly variegated in color,…