Scaup

There are thousands of Scaup in Gravesend and Dead Horse Bay right now. Here’s a raft of them from the archives of 2012. They will soon head north to breed. Over the weekend there was precisely one at Marine Park Creek. A female Greater Scaup (Aythya marila). And she was on the rocks… making it the first time I’ve ever seen one of these divers out of the water. Preening, of course.She was diving for some kind of seaweed, thick green ribbons scarfed down her bill. I usually see these birds in the face of a bitter wind, just silhouettes bobbing on the waves, so it was good to get a close look in good light.

Here’s a male in the archives.