After mostly freezing over this past weekend, the entrance channel to Presque Isle Bay (between North Pier and South Pier) was again unfrozen as of Tuesday, with lots of waterfowl activity (e.g., 1000s of birds): Redhead, Scaup, Canvasback, Mallard, Canada Goose, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, American Coot, Common and Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, etc.
Finishing up with earlier, sunnier shots of some of these same species at South Pier, from last week:
Brief thoughts on why identifying Lesser Scaup vs. Greater Scaup in flight is difficult. (As a first premise, Lesser Scaups are primarily fresh-water ducks, so most “Scaups” in Erie will be Lesser. Great Scaup more common by the ocean.)
First ID factor, at A above: black “nail” at end of beak is typically narrower on Lesser Scaup and wider on Greater Scaup. The nail of this duck is fairly narrow = suggests Lesser Scaup.
Second ID factor, at B: head iridescence, viewable only in full sunlight. Generally, purple on Lesser Scaup, green on Greater Scaup. Colour on this bird is green = suggests Greater Scaup.
Third ID factor, at C: delineation between upper breast and belly/lower breast is typically sharper on Greater Scaup. This bird exhibits “not sharp” patterning = suggests Lesser Scaup.
Fourth ID factor, at D, frequently mentioned in ID guides: white stripe on wing primaries extends almost to the end in Greater Scaup, usually just halfway down on Lesser Scaup. Here, white extends fairly far down the wing = suggests Greater Scaup.
So, two for Greater, two for Lesser, you can see the challenge. But based on location + head colour and wing colour varying significantly between the two species (i.e., neither is dispositive), probably this is a male Lesser Scaup.