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A drake scaup swimming on a lagoon. It's a black and white duck with a vermiculated grey back

Drake scaup © Pete Richman

A scaup swimming across a lake. It's a brown duck mottled with grey, with a round head and a big blaze of white at the base of its beak

Scaup © Pete Richman

Scaup

This dashing diving duck is a winter visitor to the UK's seas, coastal lakes and occasionally inland water bodies.

Scientific name

Aythya marila

When to see

Mainly October to March

Species information

Category

Statistics

Length: 42-51 cm
Wingspan: 71-80 cm

Conservation status

Classified in the UK as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021).

Habitats

About

The scaup is a diving duck, closely related to the more familiar tufted duck. It is also known as the greater scaup, to distinguish it from the rarer lesser scaup. It is a winter visitor to the UK, arriving from October. In March it returns to its breeding grounds in Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. A few non-breeding birds may hang around in the UK over summer and pairs occasionally breed.

In winter, the scaup is mainly found on the sea, where it dives down to feed on mussels. In some areas, large flocks of scaups can gather in rafts. Lone birds or small groups can sometimes turn up on inland lakes, where they may associate with tufted ducks.

How to identify

At first glance, the scaup looks a little like a tufted duck, but is larger and has a bulkier body and a more rounded head. There is no tuft or crest on the head at all. The size and shape can really stand out when seen amongst tufted ducks. Adult males are distinctive, with a pale grey back covered in wavy lines (called vermiculations).

Females and young birds are brown, though usually have some grey tones on their back and sides. Female and young tufted ducks appear more contrasting, with a dark back and noticeably paler sides. Female and young scaups have a large white blaze around the base of the beak (smaller in young birds) – though beware female tufted ducks that can sometimes show a lot of white here, too.

The black patch on the tip of a scaup's beak is small and confined to the nail, whilst tufted ducks usually have a larger black patch that spreads across the front of the beak.

Distribution

Mainly northern, with the largest numbers found around the coasts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Birds can turn up on inland waters almost anywhere in the UK.

Did you know?

Once a female scaup is sitting on eggs, the male will leave her and go off to a large lake to moult his feathers. Large numbers of males can gather on these lakes, with 4,000 recorded together in Iceland.