Lesser Scaup
Lesser Scaup: Medium diving duck with finely barred gray back and gray-washed white underparts. Head, neck, and breast are black with purple gloss. Eye is yellow. Bill is blue-gray. Wings are black with large, white patches; tail is black. Dives for food. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
● Song:
"whew", "purr"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Lesser Scaup: Feeds on seeds, aquatic vegetation, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic insects, and small fish; forages by diving.
● Breeding & nesting:
Lesser Scaup: Six to fifteen olive or olive buff eggs are laid in a down-lined cup of grass hidden in vegetation, often located some distance from water. Incubation ranges from 21 to 28 days and is carried out by the female.
● Similar species:
Lesser Scaup: Greater Scaup is larger and has white wing stripe that extends through the secondaries onto the primaries; male has whiter sides and a more rounded head.
● Range & Habitat:
Lesser Scaup: Breeds from interior Alaska and northern Canada south to Colorado, Iowa, and occasionally farther east. Spends winters regularly along coasts south from British Columbia and Massachusetts to Gulf of Mexico; also inland south of Colorado and the Great Lakes. Preferred habitats include ponds and marshes; during migration and in winter is found on lakes, rivers, and ponds, and in the southern states on saltwater.