Service (Goldsberry et al. 1980) (a) listed 8,500 scaup wintering off North 

 Carolina. If this population is apportioned to species [as done by Bellrose 

 (1976)], about 7,300 of these birds were Lesser Scaup. 



South Carolina Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) regarded the Lesser Scaup as 

 a fairly common winter resident throughout the state, most abundant along the 

 coast. Most are present from late October to mid-April (Sprunt and Chamberlain 

 1949); very small numbers are occasionally present during the summer (Burton 

 1970, Teulings 1976c). 



Bellrose (1976) estimated that winter populations totalled about 16,000 

 birds. Calculations based on the 1975 winter survey (Goldsberry et al. 1980) 

 suggest a population of less than than a thousand birds, although data from re- 

 cent Christmas Counts (Map 22) indicate that Lesser Scaup are considerably more 

 abundant in South Carolina than the winter survey indicated. A flock of ducks 

 thought to contain more than 50,000 birds (most of them evidently Lesser Scaup) 

 was seen in Charleston Harbor, 23 January 1970 (Teulings 1971b). 



Georgia Lesser Scaup are common migrants and winter residents throughout 

 Georgia and are abundant along the coast and offshore (Denton et al. 1977). 

 Burleigh (1958) considered this species to be the most common migrant and win- 

 ter resident among the ducks, and he reported that it preferred fresh-water 

 areas. Excluding occasional summering birds, limits for dates of occurrence 

 are 5 October (Denton et al. 1977) and 2 June (Teulings 1976c). 



Estimates based on January waterfowl surveys (Bellrose 1976) indicate that 

 the winter population is about 16,000 birds. Calculations based on the 1975 

 survey (Goldsberry et al. 1980) suggest that about 8,300 were present that year. 



Florida Howell (1932) considered the Lesser Scaup the most common duck in 

 Florida in winter and spring, an assessment with which Sprunt (1954) and Palmer 

 (1976b) agreed. Kale (1979 ms a) noted flocks of up to 25,000 at Merritt Island 

 NWR on the Atlantic coast; about that many are regularly reported on Christmas 

 Counts from there (Map 22). As many as 68,000 Lesser Scaup have been reported 

 in Tampa Bay on the Gulf coast (Fickett in Schreiber et al . 1975), and the spe- 

 cies is abundant off both the peninsula and the panhandle. Bellrose (1976) es- 

 timated a wintering population of almost 285,000; an estimate derived from the 

 1975 waterfowl survey indicates that at least 267,000 were present that year. 



Found throughout Florida, these ducks normally arrive in early October and 

 remain until May. There are, however, July records for St. Marks NWR, and July 

 and August records from Pensacola (Sprunt 1954). There is a nesting record from 

 Lake Jackson, Wakulla County, in 1896, although the bird was thought to have 

 been a cripple (Sprunt 1954); Kale (1979 ms b) indicated other isolated nesting 

 records. 



Alabama The Lesser Scaup is abundant in winter and on migration in Ala- 

 bama. Although the species occasionally summers in the state, there are no re- 

 cords of breeding birds. These ducks prefer to winter on deep inland lakes and 



(a) We manipulated the data for Lesser Scaup in Goldsberry et al . (1980) as 

 explained in the preceding account, q.v. 



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