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Greater scaup
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{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Good article}} {{Speciesbox | name = Greater scaup | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Pleistocene|Recent|ref=<ref name="University of Michigan"/>}} | image = Drake Greater scaup (Aythya marila) Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, USA.jpg | image2 = Hen greater scaup (Aythya marila) Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, USA.jpg | image_caption = A Greater Scaup in the [[Barnegat Inlet]]. | image2_caption = Female, [[Barnegat Inlet]] | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Aythya marila'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22680398A132525108 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22680398A132525108.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Aythya | species = marila | authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1761) | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision = ''A. m. marila'' <small>(Linnaeus, 1761)</small><br/> <small>(Eurasian greater scaup)</small><br/> ''A. m. nearctica'' <small>([[Leonhard Hess Stejneger|Stejneger]], 1885)</small><br/> <small>(Nearctic greater scaup)</small> | range_map = The GS range map.jpg | range_map_caption = Range of ''Aythya marila'' | synonyms = ''Anas marila'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1761}} }} {{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Aythya-marila|species=Greater Scaup}} The '''greater scaup''' ('''''Aythya marila'''''), just '''scaup''' in Europe or, colloquially, "bluebill" in North America,<ref name="Bluebills"/> is a mid-sized [[diving duck]], larger than the closely related [[lesser scaup]] and [[tufted duck]]. It spends the summer months breeding in [[Iceland]], east across [[Scandinavia]], northern [[Russia]] and [[Siberia]], [[Alaska]], and northern [[Canada]]. During the winter, it [[bird migration|migrates]] south to the coasts of Europe, eastern Asia, and North America. [[Duck|Drake]] greater scaup are larger and have more rounded heads than the females; they have a bright blue bill and yellow eyes. Their heads are dark, with a green to purple (depending on light angle) gloss; the breast is black, the belly white, the upperparts pale grey, and the wing shows a strong white stripe. The females are mostly brown, again with white on the wing. They have dull blue bills and a white patch on the face. Greater scaup nest near water, typically on islands in northern lakes or on floating mats of vegetation. They begin breeding at age two, but start building nests in the first year. The drakes have a complex [[Courtship display|courtship]], which takes place on the return migration to the summer breeding grounds and concludes with the formation of [[Monogamy in animals|monogamous]] pairs. Females lay a [[clutch (eggs)|clutch]] of six to nine olive-buff-coloured eggs. The eggs hatch in 24 to 28 days. The [[down feather|down]]-covered ducklings are able to follow their mother in her search for food immediately after hatching. Greater scaup eat aquatic [[molluscs]], plants, and insects, which they obtain by diving underwater to depths of 0.5β6 m, exceptionally 10 m.<ref name=BWP>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Cramp | editor1-first=Stanley | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | year=1977 | chapter=''Aythya marila'' Scaup | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic | volume=I: Ostrich to Ducks | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-857358-6 | pages=586β593 }}</ref> They form large groups, called "rafts", that can number in the thousands. Their main threat is human development, although they are also preyed upon by owls, skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and humans. Greater scaup populations have been declining since the 1980s; however, they are still listed as a species of least concern on the [[IUCN Red List]].<ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" />
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