Greater Scaup
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| Greater Scaup Conservation status: Lower risk (lc) | ||||||||||||||
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| Aythya marila (Linnaeus, 1761) |
The Greater Scaup (Aythya marila), or just Scaup in Europe, is a small diving duck.
Adults have a blue bill and yellow eyes. Adult males have a dark head with a green sheen, a black breast, a light back, a black tail and a white bottom. Adult females have a white band at the base of the bill and a brown head and body. They are larger than the Lesser Scaup.
Their breeding habitat is lakes and bogs across northern North America, Europe and Asia. They are found on the tundra and at the northern limits of the boreal forest. They nest on the ground near water, sometimes in small loose colonies.
They migrate in flocks to coastal waters.
These birds dive and swim underwater. They mainly eat mollusks and aquatic plants.
This bird's name may come from its call scaup scaup.bg:Планинска потапница nl:Toppereend pl:Ogorzałka