tags: Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, photographed in Hermann Park Lagoon, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 December 2005 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is a fine image of the bill color and pattern of Lesser Scaup: note how the jet black of the bill tip is strictly limited to the nail, with no "bleed" to the sides. The vermiculation of the back is coarse, and vermiculations are readily discernible on the white sides. Head-on, the distribution of muscle on the head reminds me of Redhead: fairly narrow at the top of the head, big puffy cheeks, then a rapid curve into the neck.
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Comments
lesser scaup drake aka bluebill
Posted by: RM | October 14, 2008 11:42 AM
Bluebill? Makes it sound like a pirate. Paddling the Spanish Main, with Drake I guess.
Posted by: Bob O'H | October 14, 2008 3:33 PM
I concur: lesser scaup.
Posted by: The Ridger | October 14, 2008 8:37 PM
ps - are we done with scaups now? Are you going to tell us if we got them right?
Posted by: The Ridger | October 14, 2008 8:42 PM
It's the other scaup: look at the shape of the dark tip to the bill. The spot is more vertical on Lesser and more horizontal on Greater.
Posted by: Smilodon | October 14, 2008 9:32 PM
Greater, . . . . . . . I think.
It just looks bigger and less lesser
Posted by: 1hen2ducks | October 14, 2008 10:23 PM
If the last one was a Greater, then this, surely, is a Lesser Scaup.
Posted by: JohnB | October 15, 2008 8:02 AM
Lesser Scaup drake - the shape of the black tip of the bill is the key. It's a great field mark... if you can get close enough to see it, which isn't easy except at places like Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, where both scaups winter in huge numbers and many become utterly unconcerned about featherless bipeds.
Posted by: Hilary | October 15, 2008 2:08 PM