Pea Island on the OBX in North Carolina is a great place to pick up Greater Scaup.
This is a classic adult with the nice rounded head, clean white flanks and honker of a bill.
Young scaup are tricky to ID when separate, but when you get them side by side it's fairly easy. This was one of those times with both species photographed at Carolina Beach Lake which is a good place to get both.
The Greater on the left has a more round head profile with the Lesser showing a bit of a peak on the back of the head. The Greater is a tad bit larger, but the bill is noticeably so with a larger nail (tip). The white around the bill is more pronounced on the Greater. Male birds have color differences but depending on the light, they can be misleading.
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