Bird of the Week – Lesser Scaup
Lesser Scaup is another species of marsh and sea duck that breeds far inland in Interior Alaska.
Lesser Scaup Drake and Hen
Lesser Scaup are notoriously difficult to tell from their close cousins, Greater Scaup. Their ranges overlap, too. But by slight differences in the head, neck and pattern on the back, you can usually tease the two apart.
These birds were at the Peat Ponds, one of the better birding spots around Fairbanks. The photo was taken in the fall of 2013. The female has moved into eclipse plumage; the male is still in breeding plumage.
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
I love the amber eyes.
You may think it’s difficult to tell Lesser Scaup from Greater Scaup, but you won’t believe how tricky it gets when a handful of Mediumer Scaup are mixed in with the Lesser Scaup and Greater Scaup. Not that takes a REAL bird expert to sort out.
What? No pics of Mediumer Scaups? What about the rules-pictures or else.
I can see how the hen could easily be mistaken for a coastal brown bear,colorwise.Her eyes are freaky. You’d never know by looking at her from any direction if she was staring back.As for the drake,it looks like Ma Nature took whatever colors and patterns left over from making pretty birds and cobbled up a drake scaup.