{"id":51240,"date":"2018-03-13T06:02:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T12:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51240"},"modified":"2021-11-28T13:11:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T20:11:20","slug":"drake-lesser-scaup-in-salt-lake-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/13\/drake-lesser-scaup-in-salt-lake-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Lesser Scaup in Salt Lake County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakeDrake Lesser Scaup in early March – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the 5th of March I was at the local pond in the afternoon and the regular birds were there, lots of Canada Geese, Mallards, American Coots and one or two Pied-billed Grebes. Way out I spotted a pair of\u00a0 Ring-necked Ducks but I figured they wouldn’t come close enough to photograph because they seem so skittish at this pond. Nothing much was going on, the geese weren’t flying in and out and I thought I was wasting time until another duck that was cruising slowly towards the shore caught my eye, at first my brain said “Ring-necked” then I looked closer and saw that it was a drake Lesser Scaup.<\/p>\n

\"DivingDiving drake Lesser Scaup – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In all the time I have spent at the local pond I believe this is the first Lesser Scaup I have found there so you just know I had to take photos of it as it swam closer and closer to where I was!<\/p>\n

Lesser Scaup are fairly common diving ducks but I don’t see them all that often here in northern Utah at the locations where I most often photograph birds. The population of Lesser Scaup is in a slow but steady decline of 1.8% per year, between 1996 and 2015 that is a cumulative decline of 59%. I am aware that biologists are studying Lesser Scaup at Red Rock Lakes NWR because of their declining numbers.<\/p>\n

\"LesserLesser Scaup drake floating on a pond – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The drake Lesser Scaup did come in close enough to be able to take a few images of it where it almost filled the frame before a man and his dog walked by and caused the scaup to make a hasty retreat to the middle of the pond. Even though I only photographed the Lesser Scaup for a few minutes finding and photographing this drake was one of the top highlights of my day.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Lesser Scaup photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The drake Lesser Scaup did come in close enough to be able to take a few images of it where it almost filled the frame before a man and his dog walked by and caused the scaup to make a hasty retreat to the middle of the pond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2681,709,26],"tags":[2682,4159,4753,4483,1129,126,5423,4564,4062,1984,6400,6401,8018,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-51240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-lesser-scaups","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-aythya-affinis","tag-diving","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-floating","tag-lesser-scaup","tag-male","tag-pond","tag-scaup","tag-scaups","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lesser-scaup-drake-pond-mia-mcpherson-6558.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dks","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":119952,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/20\/ring-necked-duck-and-an-odd-lesser-scaup\/","url_meta":{"origin":51240,"position":0},"title":"Ring-necked Duck And An Odd Lesser Scaup","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Seven days ago I found a Ring-necked Duck and an odd Lesser Scaup drake at my local pond. The scaup puzzled me and I wondered if he might be a hybrid.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-necked Duck and an odd Lesser Scaup, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ring-necked-duck-and-weird-scaup-mia-mcpherson-1489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ring-necked-duck-and-weird-scaup-mia-mcpherson-1489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ring-necked-duck-and-weird-scaup-mia-mcpherson-1489.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lesser-scaup-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-6489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lesser-scaup-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-6489.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lesser-scaup-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-6489.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lesser-scaup-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-6489.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139526,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/08\/drake-lesser-scaup-on-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":51240,"position":2},"title":"Drake Lesser Scaup On The Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing two winter drake Lesser Scaup photos I took three years ago today from the causeway to Antelope Island State Park in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter drake Lesser Scaup on the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lesser-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lesser-scaup-drake-mia-mcpherson-9033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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