Tag Archives: Scaup

Female Scaup

24 Saturday Jan 2026

Posted by in birds, winter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

It was 10.34 yesterday morning and I was walking across the Barrage, being blasted by the ferocious winds that have plagued us for three days now and looking to see if those winds had blown any interesting birds in to Cardiff Bay, when my phone emitted the double ping that meant a new WhatsApp message had been posted on the local birding group.

A Scaup had been sighted with a flock of Tufted ducks close to the water’s edge by the Norwegian Church. It was perfect timing as I had literally just taken a couple of steps towards home, having spotted nothing new. Instead, I immediately turned around and started striding in the direction of the church, as I knew there was a possibility the birds might be disturbed and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Luckily for me, this stunning female Scaup was still there, and, for the next 15 minutes or so, I enjoyed wonderfully close views. Most of the time she had her head tucked under her wing snoozing but twice, when a group of noisy people walked along the pavement behind me and when one of the water buses left Mermaid Quay to sail up the River Taff to central Cardiff, the Scaup lifted her head to scan her surroundings. Unfortunately, the revving engines, passenger screams, and wave action caused by a Cardiff Jetboat hurtling around nearby then caused almost the entire flock of birds to panic and fly to the other side of the Bay, exactly what I had feared might happen. (And don’t even get me started on the damage and disturbance that jetboat causes in the Bay!)

I had actually seen this same Scaup twice before yesterday, as she had been at Cosmeston Lakes for a couple of weeks before relocating to the Bay with her Tufty friends on Thursday. However, when I had managed to pick her out at Cosmeston, she had always been distant, on the far side of the west lake, so I was really thrilled to see her up close in the Bay.

An elusive Scaup

03 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in birds, winter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Half way through December a juvenile Scaup (Greater scaup Aythya marila) appeared on the Taff, near where the river runs in to Cardiff Bay. In our WhatsApp group, several birders regularly reported seeing the bird but do you think I could find it? One day I even resorted to photographing every single female Tufted duck in the area so I could check my images at home – the two birds look quite similar – and I still didn’t get it.

250103 scaup (1)

Then, finally, on Christmas Eve, on my third – or was it my fourth? – attempt, I found it, swimming along quite happily amongst the Tufted ducks and Coots, in the company of a female Pochard. That was a very grey, gloomy day, as many of our days were in December, so you can perhaps imagine my delight when, yesterday, though it was very cold, we had blue skies and sunshine, and there it was, the previously tricky little Scaup, paddling towards me from across the river, as if to show me that it’s really not elusive at all.

250103 scaup (2)

Finally, a Scaup

21 Wednesday Feb 2024

Posted by in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Twice previously this year I’ve thought I’ve spotted a Scaup where they frequently hang out amongst the local flocks of Tufted ducks, but I haven’t been able to positively identify those possibilities because the birds were either females or immature birds and so looked very similar to female Tufties, or they were too distant, and/or they had their heads tucked away, snoozing.

240221 scaup (1)

So, I was delighted when one of our local birders, who is much more expert than I am and had the visual assistance of a telescope, spotted this Scaup in Cardiff Bay last Friday evening. And, very fortunately, the bird paddled over to join one of the Tufty flocks overnight and was still there the next day for the rest of us birders to see and enjoy.

240221 scaup (2)

Though it spent a lot of its time asleep, you could still see the large white face shield that is typical of female and immature Scaup. And, though I would normally curse the unthinking kayakers who paddle far too closely to flocks of birds in the Bay, the passing of two kayaks did serve to awaken all the ducks and bring them a little closer to the water’s edge, giving much better views of this lovely duck.

240221 scaup (3)

New year, new lists

02 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Yes, I make lists. Each year, a new page in my notebook, new pages in the spreadsheets on my laptop. I only keep two lists, one for the birds I see and one for the butterflies, which, unless I’m very lucky, won’t have any names added for a few months yet. I don’t do this in competition with other listers but rather as a way of comparing one year with another, and also of remembering. Just as photographs trigger memories of places and events, so too do my lists. And then there’s the personal challenge, particularly on the first day of the new year, to see how many bird species I can find on a walk around Cardiff Bay (31 in 2018, a whopping 47 in 2019, 44 in 2020, 40 in 2021, 45 in 2022). And this year’s total? Well, incredibly, yesterday’s 9-mile walk resulted in a total of 50 bird species, which was definitely helped by the lingering presence of Black redstarts, the Whooper swan, and this female Scaup.

An appropriate Scaup

01 Tuesday Nov 2022

Posted by in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

My sighting of this gorgeous bird during Saturday’s circuit of Cardiff Bay could not have been more appropriate because this is the species I wrote about in the recently released Into the Red, the British Trust for Ornithology’s publication about Britain’s red-listed birds. My piece describes how tricky it can be to distinguish the various species of confusingly brown female ducks one from the other, and tells the story of my pride in identifying for myself my very first female Scaup earlier this year.

221101 scaup

You can still purchase a copy (or copies – they would make perfect affordable presents for the nature-lovers amongst your family and friends) of the book on the BTO website here: www.bto.org/intothered.

221101 into the red

A fleeting Scaup

11 Tuesday Jan 2022

Posted by in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Catching up with December’s bird visitors again today, this time with a Greater scaup that spent a few days before Christmas at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. Sadly, it didn’t hang around for us local patch birders to add it to our 2022 bird list. This handsome bird, pictured below with a male and female Tufted duck, is probably a first-winter male, which is why it doesn’t yet have the fully light grey back seen in adult males.

220111 scaup

Ducks in a row

16 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in birds, winter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

For the past couple of months it’s been wonderful to have both a female Scaup and a Ring-necked duck over-wintering in my local area. They spend most of their time amongst flocks of Tufted ducks in Cardiff Bay, either behind the Ice Rink or in the wetlands reserve, though they also venture occasionally to Cosmeston Lakes. Much of the time they can be found together, as if they’re aware that they’re the outsiders in the flock, though they can sometimes be found in separate locations. I was lucky during Thursday’s walk to see them both in a smattering of sunshine and together – in fact, I managed to get all my ducks in a row!

210116 ducks in a row

15/366 Immature drake scaup

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in birds, nature, winter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

What a difference a month makes! Well, actually, not quite a month – my first photo below was taken on 21 December, the other two today, 15 January.

200115 scaup (1)

Two juvenile drake Greater scaup (Aythya marila) have been over-wintering in my local area, some days on the lakes at Cosmeston, some days in Cardiff Bay, either at the wetlands reserve or on the opposite side of the bay, near Ferry Court, always in the company of the flocks of Tufted ducks.

200115 scaup (2)

When they were first sighted, it was difficult to tell them apart from the female Tufties, so brown were they in appearance. But, as you can see in these photos, they are gradually acquiring more grey feathers on their backs and white on their lower bodies.

200115 scaup (3)

In February and March, scaup begin to migrate to the Arctic in preparation for breeding, though, according to my bird guide, some immature birds remain in their wintering grounds over the summer months. It will be interesting to see what these two decide to do.

317/365 H is for hybrid

13 Wednesday Nov 2019

Posted by in birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

When I was looking for the Snow bunting at The Knap in Barry yesterday, I also spotted this hybrid duck. It’s probably the same hybrid that’s been seen in The Knap lake and at Cosmeston, both this winter and last, always in the company of Tufted ducks. But what is it?

191113 hybrid

Well, the fact that it associates with the Tufted ducks may mean one of its parents was a Tufty. Here’s a photo of a male Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). As you can see, the hybrid doesn’t have the dark back or the head tuft of this bird.

191113 tufted duck

The lighter back feathers of the hybrid resemble those of a Scaup (Aythya marila) and the occasional Scaup has been seen associating with the local Tufties, so maybe…. Here’s a male Scaup for comparison.

191113 scaup

There’s still the issue of the hybrid’s head shape and colour, which to my inexperienced eyes look rather like a male Pochard (Aythya ferina), a duck that also has light grey back plumage (photo below). So, maybe we have a Tufted duck – Pochard hybrid?

191113 pochard

The reality is that no one can be 100% sure of the hybrid’s parentage without a DNA test, but it’s always interesting to see birds like this and speculate. What do you think?

Second time lucky

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in birds, nature, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

On Sunday I went to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park to look for the Scaup that has, since 13 December, been enjoying the delights of the lakes and the company of the huge number of Tufted ducks currently resident there. I had a wonderful mooch about but couldn’t find the Scaup (though I did spot a Hawfinch, a rare visitor, and was very pleased with that).

181219 scaup (1)

So, I went back again on Monday, partly to look again for that Hawfinch but also for the Scaup. And I was lucky with both birds, with another very fleeting, distant view of the finch but superb close views of the Scaup, which came to feed on the seed I always carry with me in the winter.

181219 scaup (3)181219 scaup (5)

This is a drake Scaup – actually a Greater scaup (Aythya marila), which is usually just known as Scaup, as the Lesser scaup is so rarely seen, and a first-winter bird, as it doesn’t yet have its adult plumage – the brown colouring you can see on this bird will disappear as it develops into an adult.

181219 scaup (6)181219 scaup (7)

In south Wales, the Scaup is an uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant, which, according to the latest Glamorgan Bird Report, enjoyed a ‘welcome increase of records and numbers’ in the 2017 first winter period (i.e. between January and mid April). Let’s hope the increasing number of sightings of this handsome little duck continues.

181219 scaup (8)181219 scaup (9)