Lesser scaup that looks strongly curved or even angular due to the small crest. When the birds raise their heads, these differences are most easy to spot, and after observing the two species in direct comparison it usually becomes easy to recognize. In fact, in alternate plumage the lesser scaup drake may appear identical in shape and size to a drake of the ring-necked duck ("A. collaris"); the black back and wings of that species are hard to confuse with the light ones of the lesser scaup male though. Particularly in the case of vagrant birds in Europe, the identification is complicated
What Bird is That? of "What Bird is That?" It was published in 1984 and incorporated all of Cayley’s paintings created over many years for his vision of releasing a “big bird book” and included a revised taxonomy. In the 53 years since its first edition, more than a hundred new bird species had been identified in Australia. Scientific names had been changed and groups of birds had been reordered. Lindsey brought "What Bird is That?" up-to-date with the latest birding conventions of the time, as well as contributing a valuable supplementary list of birds and a scholarly catalogue of Cayley’s paintings. The "Signature