Lesser scaup breed and raise their young may be tied to some specific ecological conditions—such as abundance of key food items—which shifted winterwards due to global warming, without the ducks being able to adapt. In this regard, it is alternatively or additionally possible that greater scaup, which may be increasing in numbers, is putting the lesser scaup under increasingly severe competition. However, it seems that greater scaup eats larger food items on average, and the species are sympatric in part of their range and presumably have been for millennium without any problems due to competition. The experience of the past as well
Featherless bird-riddle Featherless bird-riddle The Featherless bird-riddle is an international riddle type about a snowflake. In the nineteenth century, it attracted considerable scholarly attention because it was seen as a possible reflex of ancient Germanic riddling, arising from magical incantations. But although the language of the riddle is reminiscent of European charms, later work, particularly by Antti Aarne, showed that it occurred widely throughout Europe─particularly central Europe─and that it is therefore an international riddle type. Archer Taylor concluded that 'the equating of a snowflake to a bird and the sun to a maiden without hands is an elementary idea that cannot yield