Cliff--
I just came from San Diego, where scaup are quite common this time of year,
and it seems that Lesser and Greater are quite difficult to distinguish--and
the distinguishing characteristic is the shape of the head. From reading
the San Diego birdlist, a greater is usually identified while swimming with
a bunch of lessers, where the difference makes it stand out.
The white on face and bill indicates a female scaup or perhaps a juvenile
male but I think yours is a female? (I've only been doing this about a year
and half so I'm always prepared to be wrong!) Per Sibley, the lesser is
smaller than Greater with thinner and straighter bill, thinner neck, smaller
head with taller crown and more obvious, more vertical corner at rear crown.
Love your designation as "medium scaup." I've seen a lot of 'em.
Betsy True
Alexandria, VA
http://www.birdlist.blogspot.com ;
-------Original Message-------
Cliff wrote:
I saw a Scaup feeding on the lake at Ben Brenman Park in Alexandria this
afternoon from 4 to 5 p.m. My instinct wants to call it a Lesser Scaup,
but the amount of white on its face and its bill make me wonder. I've
added two photographs of it to my website. See the first two photographs
at http://www.pbase.com/bb_etc/cameron_station ;
Hope someone can pinpoint its identity.
For those not familiar with this location, it is just off Duke Street on
the west end of Alexandria--Duke (Rte 236) and Sommervelle.
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