Greater Scaup

The Greater Scaup is a broad-bodied diving duck with a rounded head and pale blue-grey bill. Breeding males have a black head with green gloss, black breast, pale finely barred back and white flanks. Females are brown with a conspicuous white patch around the bill base. Compared with Lesser Scaup, the head appears rounder and the white wing stripe extends through both flight-feather groups (Wikipedia, general species account).

Greater Scaup dive for molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic vegetation in lakes, estuaries and sheltered coastal water. They are highly social outside the breeding season, often assembling in dense rafts that may include other diving ducks. Females nest on the ground near northern wetlands and rear the young alone. Large numbers migrate to temperate coasts and unfrozen lakes, including wintering sites around Japan (Wikipedia, general species account).