Scaup are considered diving ducks which differ from dabblers or puddle ducks because of their feeding habits. Diving ducks spend time in deeper water than dabblers and are expert swimmers and divers. They usually dive to feed and can travel distances under water. Most have shorter tails and smaller wings in proportion to their size and weight than dabblers. There are two species of Scaup-Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup. The larger-sized Greater Scaup are typically found near saltwater and Lesser Scaup usually prefer freshwater. Both species feed on aquatic plants, insects, and crustaceans. Young Lesser Scaup are capable of finding their own food when they're just a few days old. Excellent swimmers, they dive deep into the water for food and to escape danger. Lesser Scaup breed on small ponds, marshes, and sloughs in the Canadian prairies. They are late nesters and one of the last waterfowl to migrate south in winter.

 

Description. 15-18 ½ ". Commonly called "Bluebills" because of pale blue bill. Males: black breast and rump, speckled gray back, white sides, and distinctive purple head. Females: mostly dark brown except white around base of bill. Both sexes sport pale blue bills.

Field Marks. Very active diving ducks that often feed in large rafts of several hundred birds in winter. Sometimes confused with canvasbacks, ring-necked, and redheads because of black, white, and gray colors on backs. In flight: bold, white stripe obvious on secondaries. Compact groups of 25-50 ducks fly together in rapid, erratic patterns.

Voice. Both sexes when alarmed: loud scaup. Female: usually silent, but sometimes soft, purring kwuh.

Range. Breeds in Alaska and northern Canada through Manitoba and south to Colorado and Iowa. Spends winters along east and west coasts and inland south of Colorado and the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast.

Habitat. Lakes, marshes, tundra ponds. Winters on seacoasts and inland lakes and reservoirs.