scaupsters

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: Greetings : Let me start by saying, I HATE summer scaup. There are still many scaup in Washington during the summer, and some I must leave unidentified, even with painfully prolonged views. Female Lessers can show conspicuous auricular patches during summer (seen in females with young, making the ID firmer), but rarely (if ever) to the extent of the summer quiz female. Also, I have found that summer Lesser Scaup, particularly when paired off, tend to look more flat topped, thus looking more like Greaters. Perhaps this is some effort at impressing their partner. It is these pairs that have particularly confounded my best efforts at ID in the past. : That being said, I agree with The Dave's (Fix and Irons). I think both top birds are Greaters, even though summer Lessers are more Greater-like in head shape and facial plumage. Partly, this is because of the bill shape, which seems relatively spatulate and heavy nailed in these birds. I also think that the head is very Greater like and the auricular patch is especially prominent, likely too much so for a Lesser. : Cheers : Steven Mlodinow

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