GREATER SCAUP 

 ( Aythya marlla ) 



[DA: Bjergand, DU: Toppereend , EN: Scaup, FI: Lapasotlea, FR: Milouinan, Canard 

 railouinan; GE : Bergente, IC: Duggond, IT: Moretta grigia, JA: Suzugamo, NW : Ber- 

 gand , PO: Ogorzalka, RU: (Marine Scaup), SP: Porron bastardo, Cos grande, SW: 

 Bergand] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America The Greater Scaup breeds in North America from Alaska 

 through Arctic Canada east to the shores of Hudson Bay, with isolated records 

 or casual nesting in northwestern British Columbia, central Alberta, and the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. It nests also in the Chima region of northern Ungava and 

 commonly in a small area in southeastern Newfoundland (Palmer 1976b). Palmer 

 (1976b) pointed out that breeding records for North Dakota and Michigan (AOU 

 1957) are probably erroneous; the validity of a recent breeding record from 

 Florida (Montalbano 1977) is also dubious (Palmer, pers . comm.). 



Greater Scaup winter chiefly on the sea coasts, along the Pacific from the 

 Aleutian Islands to California, on the Atlantic from Newfoundland to central 

 Florida, and along the Gulf coast from Florida to coastal Texas. Others winter 

 Inland on the eastern Great Lakes and to a lesser extent along the drainage of 

 the Mississippi River. The southern limits in western North America are in Sin- 

 aloa and northern Baja California, and in eastern North America are in southern 

 Florida, the Bahamas, and western Cuba (Palmer 1976b). 



World Distribution Greater Scaup also breed in Iceland, at least sporad- 

 ically in Great Britain, and regularly through northern Eurasia from Fenno- 

 Scandia to Siberia and islands in the Bering Sea (Cramp et al. 1977, Johnsgard 

 1978). Eurasian populations winter in western Europe, along the Mediterranean, 

 in the Black Sea and Persian Gulf, in some parts of northern Africa, in India, 

 and along the shores of Japan, China, and Korea (Cramp et al. 1977). 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



North Carolina The Greater Scaup is a fairly common winter resident from 

 October to April in the waters of Pamlico Sound and adjacent areas (Potter et 

 al. 1980). It is occasionally found inland on rivers and lakes (Pearson et al. 

 1942). 



Bellrose (1976) reported the proportion of Greater Scaup among both spe- 

 cies of scaup killed during hunting seasons from 1967 to 1969. He then used 

 these figures to estimate how many of the birds seen on January waterfowl sur- 

 veys were Greater Scaup. If his proportions are still valid, then the number 

 seen in North Carolina during the January 1975 survey (Goldsberry et al. 1980) 

 was about 1,175 birds. 



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