Rick Burkman 
REFERENCE
A CASE OF IDENTITY
By Rick Burkman
Every year flocks of ducks, primarily greater and lesser scaup, fill the skies over the bays near my Lake Superior home. The wonder of migration is an exquisite mystery, but we know what it means— winter is on the way. Yet, the cycle continues year to year and we wait expectantly for the day when the ducks arrive, even though we know that ice, snow, and cold will follow in their wake.
Scaup are one of the largest and most abundant of the big-water ducks. They come in two sizes: the larger is the greater scaup (Aythya marila) and the smaller is the lesser scaup (Aythya affinis). Because the two ducks are strikingly similar in appearance it’s easy to confuse them in the field and, sometimes, even when holding them in the hand. The males of both species have dark heads, lightly colored bodies, and dark hind ends—think of a football-shaped Oreo® cookie. The females, on the other hand, are brownish-colored overall with some lighter head markings. Even expert birders can have trouble separating the two.
However, there are ways to tell them apart. The more cosmopolitan greater scaup frequents marine and brackish habitats in the world’s northern parts, while the lesser scaup prefers seasonal wetlands, freshwater bays, and lakes with emergent vegetation on the North American continent. The greater scaup winters in the marine environments of the northeastern United States while the lesser scaup spends the cold season along the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, most of Central America, and north to the northern boundary ofWashington state. The greater scaup may live all around the northern globe, but it is the lesser scaup that knows where to find seasonal warmth.
Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Winter 2010 issue!
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