Lesser Scaup

About the Lesser Scaup

The Lesser Scaup is a mid-sized diving duck. Drakes look black at both ends and pale in the middle - a glossy purple-tinged head, black chest and tail, and gray-and-white body. Hens are brown with a crisp white patch at the base of the bill. The head shows a small peak toward the rear crown, a key mark separating it from the rounder-headed Greater Scaup.

Scaup dive for clams, snails, and other bottom invertebrates, often feeding in large rafts that ride open water well offshore. Flocks number in the hundreds on big reservoirs, mixing with Ring-necked Ducks, Redheads, and coots.

The Lesser Scaup is one of the most numerous winter ducks in Texas, present from October through April on lakes and bays statewide, though continental numbers have declined notably since the 1980s.