Duck of the Week: Greater Scaup

A medium-sized diving duck of the north.

Making their home on tundra lakes and coastal bays, the Greater Scaup is a medium-sized diving duck with beautiful markings.

When observing this male greater scaup, it’s easy to see why their alternative name is bluebill. Photo by Calibas. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Males have a dark rounded head, a yellow eye, and a bluish bill, from which they get their colloquial name, “bluebill”.

A female greater scaup swimming on the water. Photo by MPF. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Females have brown heads and light brown-with-white barring on their bodies. They also have a notable white patch around their bill.

Greater scaups breed in far northern regions, including Iceland, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. During the winter, they move to more southern regions, including both North American coastlines and Japan.

These ducks are in my region, but I don’t recall ever seeing one in the wild. I’ll be on the lookout going forward.