Christopher Taylor Bird Nature Wildlife Mammal Photography
nature photography
GALLERIES > BIRDS > ANSERIFORMES > ANATIDAE > GREATER SCAUP [Aythya marila]    [plot on map]


Greater Scaup Image @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Potter Marsh, Anchorage, AK
GPS: 61.1N, -149.8W, elev=16' MAP
Date: May 28, 2012
ID : B13K7434 [4896 x 3264]

bird photography

Greater Scaup Picture @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Huntington Beach (Bolsa Chica Lagoon), CA
GPS: 33.7N, -118.1W, elev=27' MAP
Date: February 8, 2009
ID : 7C2V4506 [3888 x 2592]

Greater Scaup Picture @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Huntington Beach (Bolsa Chica Lagoon), CA
GPS: 33.7N, -118.1W, elev=27' MAP
Date: February 8, 2009
ID : 7C2V4507 [3888 x 2592]

nature photography

Greater Scaup Image @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Huntington Beach (Bolsa Chica Lagoon), CA
GPS: 33.7N, -118.1W, elev=27' MAP
Date: February 8, 2009
ID : 7C2V4527 [3888 x 2592]

Greater Scaup Photo @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Playa del Rey (Ballona Creek), CA
GPS: 34.0N, -118.4W, elev=0' MAP
Date: December 28, 2007
ID : 0443 [3888 x 2592]

bird photography

Greater Scaup Picture @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Playa del Rey (Ballona Creek), CA
GPS: 34.0N, -118.4W, elev=0' MAP
Date: December 28, 2007
ID : 0547 [3888 x 2592]

Greater Scaup Image @ Kiwifoto.com
 
 
Location: Playa del Rey (Ballona Creek), CA
GPS: 34.0N, -118.4W, elev=0' MAP
Date: December 28, 2007
ID : 0444 [3888 x 2592]

bird photography

SPECIES INFO

The Greater Scaup (Aythya marila), or just Scaup in Europe, is a small diving duck. It breeds on the ground by lakes and bogs on the tundra and at the northern limits of the boreal forest across Arctic and subarctic regions of northern North America, Europe and Asia.

The adult Greater Scaup is 42-51 cm long with a 71-80 cm wingspan, larger than the Lesser Scaup. It has a blue bill and yellow eyes. The male has a dark head with a green sheen, a black breast, a light back, a black tail and a white bottom. The adult female has a white band at the base of the bill and a brown head and body.

Nearctic Greater Scaup are separable from Palaearctic birds by stronger vermiculation on the mantle and scapulars, and are considered a separate subspecies, A. m. nearctica. Based on size differences, a Pleistocene paleosubspecies Aythya marila asphaltica has also been described from fossils recovered at Binagady, Azerbaijan.

Greater Scaup migrate southwards to winter in flocks to coastal waters.

The Greater Scaup mainly eats mollusks and aquatic plants, obtained by diving and swimmming underwater. There is a report of four Greater Scaups swallowing leopard frogs (with body length about 5 cm (2 inches)) which they dredged out of a roadside freshwater pond.

The Greater Scaup's name may come from its display call scaup scaup. It is usually silent when not breeding.

The Greater Scaup is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.




bird photography
greater_scaup's Range Map Click here to see the Greater Scaup's range map!
Listen to the Greater Scaup Call:



HOME · ABOUT ME · GALLERY · STOCKLIST · VIDEO · SEARCH · PRESS · CONTACT · BLOG · NEW STUFF
bird photography
All images and video © Copyright 2006-2024 Christopher Taylor, Content and maps by their respective owner. All rights reserved.
nature photography