Help With Drake Scaup Identification

Winter drake Lesser Scaup

Every fall and winter when Lesser and Greater Scaups are seen in northern Utah I hear questions about scaup identification. Scaups are diving ducks and they are not seen in Utah during their breeding season but when fall arrives I can see both species in this part of the state. The drake scaups look much the same in breeding and nonbreeding plumage. Greater Scaups are a little bit larger than Lesser Scaups but when they are not seen together size can be difficult to determine.  Eye color is no help because the drakes of both species have yellow eyes.

Lesser Scaups typically have a purplish iridescent sheen to their heads so the photo above could be confusing because I can detect a bit of a greenish sheen to this drake’s head. That can happen depending on the light angle. This Lesser drake’s head isn’t very rounded though and that is one clue to to the identification of this scaup because Greater Scaups have nicely rounded heads. Lesser Scaups have a little bit of a peak at the back of their heads and that can be seen in this image.

Autumn drake Greater Scaup

This drake Greater Scaup was photographed in autumn not winter like the Lesser Scaup above. He is a little more brown than the drake Lesser Scaup who was in breeding plumage when I photographed him.

But his head does show the greenish iridescent sheen that is typical for this species plus this photo shows his rounded head.

Lesser – Greater Scaup bill nail illustration

When I have difficulty determining the identification of scaups, both male and female, I look carefully at the bill of the bird I have in view. Greater Scaups have a longer and broader bill than Lesser Scaups.

Some times though even that is not enough of a help when I don’t have both species close together so I look for a tip, the dark nail tip at the end of the bill to be more exact. The dark bill nail tip of Lesser Scaups almost appears as if someone dragged a narrow paintbrush with dark paint lightly down the tip of their bill whereas in Greater Scaups it looks as if the paintbrush had more pressure applied towards the tip so it fans out at the end of the bill. The black nail tip is more of a wedge shape.

There is some overlap on the shape of the nail tips of these two species but at times when combined with other identification features it can make the identification easier.

And that is my tip of the day.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Lesser Scaup photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here to see more of my Greater Scaup photos plus facts and information about this species.