Greater scaup is fairly shallow and has an abundance of food sources and cover. The female lays six to nine olive-buff-colored eggs, which she incubates for 24–28 days. A larger clutch could indicate brood parasitism by other greater scaups or even ducks of other species. Newly hatched chicks are covered with down and are soon able to walk, swim, and feed themselves; however, they are not able to fly until 40–45 days after hatching. The vulnerable small chicks follow their mother, who protects them from predators. The greater scaup dive to obtain food, which they eat on the surface. They mainly eat
Bird vocalization and prevent an energetically costly fight . In birds with song repertoires, individuals may share the same song type and use these song types for more complex communication. Some birds will respond to a shared song type with a song-type match (i.e. with the same song type). This may be an aggressive signal, however results are mixed. Birds may also interact using repertoire-matches, wherein a bird responds with a song type that is in its rival's repertoire but is not the song that it is currently singing. This may be a less aggressive act than song-type matching. Communication through bird