Duck ID

[jmack]

Sorry for poor quality photo but is this a Scaup?

[Adam Cheeseman]

female Tufted Duck.

Cheers,

Adam

[Snidge]

Possibly a European Scoter.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Snidge

Possibly a European Scoter.

Don't think there is such a species! Common, Velvet + Surf (ignoring the vagrants) Scoters.

Agree with Adam.

[Snidge]

I think Common and European Black Scoter are one and the same thing? May'be not. Plenty ducks about today anyway. Boy is it raining.

[Shrike]

Female scaup

[Ferret]

It’s a female Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, the head shape is wrong for Scaup Aythya marila, which has a very rounded head, and you can see the hint of a tuft that female Tufted Ducks show. The white around the bill would completely surround the bill in Scaup, this bird only shows a white crescent above the base of the bill which is well within the normal variation of female tufted Duck which can show a lot of white around the base of the bill but does not completely surround it as it does on female Scaup. You can see the pale band across the end of the bill which is not present in Scaup but is in Tufted Duck.

Ferret

[solus]

Female Tuftie, for all the reasons Ferret has given.
Not all female Tufted Ducks have the white at the base of the bill but many do to a greater or lesser degree and these are sometimes called "Scaup-faced" Tufted Ducks. Other features, particualrly head shape, have to then be taken into consideration for the correct identification to be made.

Scoter, incidentally, are mainly sea ducks and very rarely occur on inland waters. Black Scoter is the North American version of "our" Common Scoter and is regarded as a separate species by some authorities.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by solus

Female Tuftie, for all the reasons Ferret has given.
Not all female Tufted Ducks have the white at the base of the bill but many do to a greater or lesser degree and these are sometimes called "Scaup-faced" Tufted Ducks. Other features, particualrly head shape, have to then be taken into consideration for the correct identification to be made.

It complicates things somewhat, but it's also true to say that not all Scaup have white at the base of the bill! I've seen juvenile Greater Scaup, with no noticeable white at the bill base, on an inland lake accompanying several Tufted Ducks which did have white around the bill!
Head shape is one of the important features to look for, as is the bill pattern.

[htcdude]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Don't think there is such a species! Common, Velvet + Surf (ignoring the vagrants) Scoters.

Common Scoter - Melanitta nigra
Black Scoter - Melanitta americana

Considered subspecies (although I don't know if official):

European Black Scoter - Melanitta nigra nigra
Pacific Black Scoter - Melanitta nigra americana

No idea what the consensus is on these, but I think the Black Scoter is considered by some as a subspecies to Common.

Nige