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Lesser Scaup | Aythya affinis
Kleine topper | Porrón bola | Zarro-pequeno
The Lesser Scaup is the diving duck that winters furthest south. In the guide area it is a scarce winter visitor in the north, on lakes in the Andes and on coastal lagoons. The birds often rest in small groups on open water, far from the shore.
Voice
Mostly silent in winter. The female has a harsh, purring karr-karr, mainly when flushed; the male a soft, whistled whee-oo in display.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
38–48 cm, a medium-sized diving duck with a head that forms a small peak at the back of the crown. The male has a black head with a mainly purple gloss, a black breast and rump, a grey, finely barred back and whitish flanks, often with a grey wash; the eye is yellow, and the bill is bluish grey with a small black nail at the tip. The female is brown, with a sharply defined white patch around the base of the bill and a yellow eye. In flight a white stripe across the secondaries that turns grey on the primaries.
Confusion species
Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris has a black back, a white ring around the bill and, in the male, a white wedge in front of the grey flanks; the female has a dark eye, a white eye-ring and no sharply defined white patch at the bill. The female Southern Pochard Netta erythrophthalma is darker, with a brown eye, a pale stripe behind the eye and a white wing stripe across both secondaries and primaries.
Habitat
Lakes and lagoons in the Andes, including crater lakes and reservoirs, and shallow lagoons, estuaries and fish ponds on the coast. It dives for molluscs, crustaceans, insect larvae and aquatic plants. By day it rests on open water, often in small groups. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia a fairly scarce winter visitor in the Andes, among others on the lakes of the Eastern Cordillera, and in the Caribbean lowlands. In Ecuador rare, on lakes in the Andes and locally on the coast. Further south, in Peru, only exceptionally; absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Elsewhere it winters from the United States to Central America and the Caribbean; it breeds in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Between November and April check the flocks of ducks on the larger lakes of the Colombian Andes, such as on the high plateau around Bogotá and in Boyacá. The male stands out by its pale flanks and black head, the female by the white patch at the base of the bill.
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC). The North American population has declined since the 1980s, partly due to changes in food supply and loss of breeding habitat in the boreal north. In the guide area a scarce winter visitor.
Scientific name
Aythya affinis | (Eyton, 1838)
Eyton described the species in 1838 as Fuligula affinis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Aythya was introduced in 1822 by Boie. The genus name is from Ancient Greek aithuia, the name of an unidentified diving bird. Latin affinis means 'related', after its resemblance to the Greater Scaup. The specimen the first description was based on came from North America.