Lesser scaup Lesser scaup The lesser scaup ("Aythya affinis") is a small North American diving duck that migrates south as far as Central America in winter. It is colloquially known as the little bluebill or broadbill because of its distinctive blue bill. The origin of the name scaup may stem from the bird's preference for feeding on scalp—the Scottish word for clams, oysters, and mussels; however, some credit it to the female's discordant scaup call as the name's source. It is apparently a very close relative of the Holarctic greater scaup or "bluebill" ("A. marila"), with which it forms a superspecies. The
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