ML646210705

Observation details

Candidate 1, Male: One larger male scaup (center male bird in the photo with 3) in many views appeared to be really good for Greater, with rounded head and back neck, but as we continued to watch it over time it would stretch its neck and head feathers and begin to look more like Lesser. Just to get an unbiased opinion, I ran it through Merlin. In spite of the fluffed head feathers on photo 9044, Merlin is still making this bird Greater Scaup and it is larger than the nearby other male (Lesser) Scaups. But then continuing to follow the same bird through a series of many photos it eventually turned into a more probable Lesser Scaup with the peak at the back. The problem is that when the Lesser Scaup hunch up and rest, they can look very much like a Greater Scaup. Candidates 2 and 3, Female : One of the females had very large white facial patches, which is supposed to be a criterium, but this doesn't work well since some Lesser can also have large white patches. This is very well illustrated in ebird Lesser Scaup species reference photo ML85150541, checklistS42600182. I do like the head shape on the one front on female looking directly at the camera female included here for a possible Greater. However, when it turns its head back to profile in subsequent photos it seems more like Lesser. Merlin makes several of these photos Greater, but it is not a consistent story going through the series following a bird. In summary, some possible Greater Scaup that didn't completely hold up, but to be sure of a Greater Scaup we need to be closer than we were able to get to these birds today. There is a great benefit to using large bursts in sequence to follow Greater Scaup candidates, as single photos can fool. May try again to look at this group on a day with better light.