Much discussion of the large scaup flocks (totalling some 700-800) around the
Chesapeake Bay mouth has happened off-line, and I thought I'd just post
something short about my few encounters with them over the past 10 days or
so. In short, both Lesser and Greater Scaup are present in variable numbers
and proportions in these flocks. Today, for instance, the 4th island held a
flock of about 120 Lesser Scaup, with 25 or so Greater Scaup mixed in. A
week ago, I saw a several flocks that were predominantly Greater Scaup here.
On the second island today, there were strings and flocks of scaup (about
300) that seemed to be almost evenly split, but perhaps with 55% Lesser.
These birds do move about quite a bit, flushing even if observers get too
close, and they're very flighty around boats. So it's probably not safe to
assume that the proportions of scaup in any of these flocks will be the same
from day to day, or even hour to hour. Nice to say that there is a Redhead
(or 2) still around, plus plenty of scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers. I
did not see a White-winged Scoter, Harlequin Duck, or eider today, but there
were heavy northbound flights of mergansers, Red-throated Loons, and Brant,
presumably coming back north a bit after the harsh weather of late. Gulls
were below 100 again.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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