Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: blue bill

This handsome Lesser Scaup was swimming with its mate on a very small pond, SW of the city, on 7 June 2014. I so rarely see pond reflections like this, so thought this made a change. "Two scaup species live in North America: the Greater Scaup prefers salt water and is found in America and Eurasia, while the Lesser Scaup prefers freshwater and is found only in North America. The Lesser Scaup is one of the most abundant and widespread of the diving ducks in North America." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Scaup/id

Usually, I need to look through someone's scope to see any Scaup, they are so far away, so I always enjoy seeing and photographing this species much closer at a little wetland in SW Calgary. I think I'm right in saying this is a Lesser Scaup rather than a Greater Scaup. This handsome male obliged, on April 22nd. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Scaup/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Scaup