Pointy Headed Lesser Scaup
The Lesser Scaup is one of the most abundant and widespread of the diving ducks in North America. The lesser scaup has a straighter neck and more oval head with the peak further back, and a resting lesser scaup will show a notch or corner toward the back of the head. Although abundant and widespread we do not see them often enough on the coastline of California. We spotted this one alone and swimming in a small tidal pool at the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline. We had a dickens of a time deciding whether he was Lesser or Greater until we came upon the description in The National Audubon.
Pointy Headed Lesser Scaup
The Lesser Scaup is one of the most abundant and widespread of the diving ducks in North America. The lesser scaup has a straighter neck and more oval head with the peak further back, and a resting lesser scaup will show a notch or corner toward the back of the head. Although abundant and widespread we do not see them often enough on the coastline of California. We spotted this one alone and swimming in a small tidal pool at the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline. We had a dickens of a time deciding whether he was Lesser or Greater until we came upon the description in The National Audubon.