Greater scaup to other diving ducks. The greater scaup forms large flocks, some of which can contain thousands of birds. When flocks are on flowing water, they will face the current, and as the ducks float backwards, some fly to the front of the flock to maintain position. Common predators of the greater scaup are owls, skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and humans. Greater scaup often find themselves entangled in fishing nets, thus large numbers of them drown in nets each year. Greater scaup can catch avian influenza, so future outbreaks have the potential to threaten greater scaup populations. Although the greater scaup
Lesser scaup Chasewater, Staffordshire in 1987 but by 2006, over 60 had been recorded, with an average of 2 per year. UK records are typically in the northern parts of the country. Vagrant lesser scaup have also been recorded on the Hawaiian Islands Japan, possibly China, and—for the first time on 18 January 2000—in the Marianas, as well as in Ecuador, Surinam, Trinidad and Venezuela (in winter), and Greenland (in summer). Lesser scaup forage mainly by sifting through the bottom mud, usually after diving and swimming underwater, occasionally by dabbling without diving. They mainly eat mollusks such as mussels and clams, as