Species: Aythya marila
Greater Scaup
Species
Show on Lists
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Anseriformes
Family
Anatidae
Genus
Aythya
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Pato Boludo-Mayor - fuligule milouinan
Informal Taxonomy
<p>Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl</p>
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Aythya
Ecology and Life History
Migration
<p>false - false - true - Migrates northward in spring, usually arriving on breeding grounds in April-May (late May-early June in far north). Departs far north by end of September, southward migration through U.S. occurs mostly in October-November (Terres 1980). Scaup that breed in northern Alaska, northern Yukon, and Mackenzie Delta winter on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the southeastern U.S. (Johnson and Herter 1989). See Johnson and Herter 1989 for information on early summer molt migration in northern Alaska and northwestern Canada.</p>
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Feeds on aquatic plants and animals. Coastally mollusks (clams, scallops, mussels, etc.) comprise a significant portion of the diet. In other areas eats seeds, leaves, stems of plants (sedges, pondweeds, muskgrass, wild celery, etc.).
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size averages about 8-9. Incubation: 23-27 days, by female. Males usually abandon females in early incubation. Young are tended by female, fledge in 9-10 weeks. May nest in colonies of 50+ pairs.
Ecology Comments
May gather in winter flocks of up to 50,000 individuals.
Length
46
Weight
957
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-21
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-21
Other Status
<p>LC - Least concern</p>
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Holarctic. BREEDS: in Northern America, northern Alaska east across Canada to Hudson Bay, central Quebec, and New Brunswick (McAlpine et al. 1988), south to northwestern British Columbia, southeastern Michigan. WINTERS: southeastern Alaska south to Baja California; from eastern Great Lakes area and Canadian Maritime Provinces to southern Florida and Gulf Coast; casual in Hawaii. Primary wintering areas include the coastal Pacific Northwest, southern and eastern Great Lakes, and Atlantic coast centering around Long Island Sound (Root 1988).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)