14 March 2014. Bronte Harbour, Ontario. I went out looking for spring today but most of it got blown away in the strong southwesterly wind. My mistake may have been visiting places along the north shore of Lake Ontario where the wind had blown the lake’s distress into a choppy onshore frenzy.
I sought backwaters and sheltered corners and soon found a small group of Mute Swans drifting around seemingly asleep. These are the same two birds, apparently dozing one moment then fully alert the next.
Later I spent a bit of time trying, for my own satisfaction, to separate two almost identical species: Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup. You could certainly be forgiven for giving up in despair or for deciding that in fact there is no difference, but all field guides list both species and even suggest generally unhelpful ways of deciding which is which. I’ve been working at this field problem for several years and had come with a couple of safe solutions, it’s either a “‘probable’ Lesser/Greater Scaup” or “Scaup species”.
More recently I’ve taken to looking more carefully at the shape of the head. This is not the place for a detailed discussion of scaup morphology, but to cut to the chase I’ve found two, what I think to be reasonable, distinguishing differences. First. The Lesser Scaup’s head profile has a bit of a peak at the front whereas the Greater Scaup’s head is distinctly rounded. Second. The Lesser Scaup’s bill has a reduced narrow black ‘nail’ at the tip, whereas the Greater Scaup’s bill has a fairly wide nail. These distinctions of course are useless at any distance greater than perhaps 10 yards, or 100 through binoculars. Click on and enlarge these photos and see if you see what I mean.
These scaup photos are in a gallery visible only on the website, not if you’re reading this as an email.
As a diversion from the finer points of scaup i.d, it’s perhaps of more interest that both scaup species are members of the Athya family of ducks. Athyas include some really gorgeous and elegant species, most of which I’ve posted here at one time or another. They are Redheads, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks and even the Pochard and Tufted Duck from Eurasia. Here’s a few photos.
