Greater scaup
Aythya marila (Linnaeus, 1761)
The greater scaup (Aythya marila) is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes. It is a medium-sized, migratory bird with a representative adult body mass of 1.005 kg and a wingspan of 82 cm.
Quick facts about the greater scaup
Its diet category is aquatic predator and its trophic level is omnivore; it lives an aquatic lifestyle in wetland habitats. It lays one clutch per year with a representative clutch size of 9.4 eggs, and the IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 958 g – 1.01 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 82 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 19.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 22.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 26.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 9.4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 months – 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the greater scaup?
Photos of the greater scaup
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the greater scaup live?
Not recorded
What is the greater scaup?
The greater scaup (Aythya marila), just scaup in Europe or, colloquially, "bluebill" in North America, 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 migrates south to the coasts of Europe, eastern Asia, and North America.
Male greater scaup average slightly larger than the females but with much overlap; they have a light blue-grey 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, which takes place on the return migration to the summer breeding grounds and concludes with the formation of monogamous pairs. Females lay a clutch of six to nine olive-buff-coloured eggs. The eggs hatch in 24 to 28 days. The 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 0.5–6 m, exceptionally 10 m. 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Greater scaup” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_scaup&oldid=1380718575), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the greater scaup endangered?
The greater scaup is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the greater scaup classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusAythya
- SpeciesAythya marila (Linnaeus, 1761)
Synonyms Anas albifrons, Anas frenata, Fuligula gesneri, Fuligula marila, Fulix marila, Marila marila, Nyroca marila
Other names and names in other languages (115)
- Big black-headEnglish
- BluebillEnglish
- ScaupEnglish
- Scaup duckEnglish
- ShufflerEnglish
- بط إسكوبيArabic
- بط أسكوبي كبيرArabic
- بط إسكوبي كبيرArabic
- Cabezudo granAragonese
- Coríu les AmasuelesAsturian
- coríu calón de les amasuelesAsturian
- Dəniz qaraördəyiAzerbaijani
- Нырок-плёсаўкаBelarusian
- Планинска потапницаBulgarian
- বড় স্কপBangla
- Morilhon louetBreton
- morell buixotCatalan
- Тинӗс улачиChuvash
- polák kaholkaCzech
- Hwyaid PendduWelsh
- hwyaden bendduWelsh
- bjergandDanish
- BergenteGerman
- ΜαριλόπαπιαGreek
- ΣταχτόπαπιαGreek
- (Μεγάλη) ΣταχτόπαπιαGreek
- RokanasoEsperanto
- granda merganasoEsperanto
- Porrón MayorSpanish
- Pato Boludo MayorSpanish
- Pato boludo-mayorSpanish
- Pato pechiblanco mayorSpanish
- Porrón bastardoSpanish
- kep'alekCentral Yupik
- allgirneqCentral Yupik
- merivartEstonian
- Murgilari handiBasque
- اردک سرسیاهPersian
- اردک سرسیاه بزرگPersian
- lapasotkaFinnish
- GrábøkaFaroese
- grábøkut ontFaroese
- Fuligule milouinanFrench
- BeraganNorthern Frisian
- JollingWestern Frisian
- Lacha iascán mórIrish
- Lach mharaScottish Gaelic
- lach-mharaScottish Gaelic
- lacha iascánScottish Gaelic
- lachan-maraScottish Gaelic
- Thunnag varreyManx
- Thunnag chlaiginaghManx
- צולל ימיHebrew
- מרילה צולל ימיHebrew
- Patka crnikaCroatian
- patka crninkaCroatian
- hegyi réceHungarian
- Սուզաբադ ծովայինArmenian
- DuggöndIcelandic
- moretta grigiaItalian
- スズガモJapanese
- ზღვის ყვინთიაGeorgian
- Теңіз сүңгуіріKazakh
- Айдарсыз сүњгуірKazakh
- 검은머리흰죽지Korean
- Ыджыд турунчӧжKomi
- Hos penduCornish
- BiergintLuxembourgish
- žiloji antisLithuanian
- bəlidəgʷəslut
- ķerraLatvian
- Морска паткаMacedonian
- морски кожуварMacedonian
- Brajmla Rasha SewdaMaltese
- Тэнгисийн шумбуурMongolian
- कालोटाउके हाँसNepali
- topperDutch
- toppereendDutch
- bergandNorwegian
- ᑕᑲ.ᑯᔑᑊ ᒪᒋ ᑕᑲᐧᑯᔑᑊOjibwa
- CuymerPicard
- ogorzałkaPolish
- ogorzałka (zwyczajna)Polish
- وڈا سکاؤپWestern Panjabi
- negrelhoPortuguese
- negrelho-comumPortuguese
- zarro-bastardoPortuguese
- Anda da muntognaRomansh
- raţa cu cap negruRomanian
- Raţă cu cap negruRomanian
- Rață cu cap negruRomanian
- raţa cu capul negruRomanian
- Чернеть морскаяRussian
- морская чернетьRussian
- Муора ханайаYakut
- FiehtaNorthern Sami
- stuorrafiehtaNorthern Sami
- chochlačka morskáSlovak
- rjavkaSlovenian
- laramaniAlbanian
- rosa kredharakeAlbanian
- rosa zhytëseAlbanian
- морска црнкаSerbian
- Morska crnkaSerbian
- เป็ดดำใหญ่Thai
- เป็ดดำหลังขาวThai
- karabas patkaTurkish
- karabaş patkaTurkish
- Далай шымнырааTuvinian
- Морська черньUkrainian
- Чернь морськаUkrainian
- Vịt biểnVietnamese
- באַרג־ענטלYiddish
- 斑背潛鴨Chinese
- 斑背潜鸭Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the greater scaup
Other species in the same genus Aythya.
Tufted duck
Aythya fuligula
Common pochard
Aythya ferina
Ferruginous duck
Aythya nyroca
Ring-necked duck
Aythya collaris
Lesser scaup
Aythya affinis
Baer's pochard
Aythya baeri
CompareGreater scaup vs Tufted duckGreater scaup vs Common pochardGreater scaup vs Ferruginous duckGreater scaup vs Ring-necked duck
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the greater scaup?
The greater scaup is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, in the family Anatidae and order Anseriformes.
How heavy is the greater scaup?
The greater scaup has a representative adult body mass of 1.005 kg, placing it in the medium size class.
What does the greater scaup eat?
The greater scaup is classed as an aquatic predator by diet category, with a trophic level of omnivore.
Is the greater scaup endangered?
No. The greater scaup is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the greater scaup live?
The greater scaup has a representative lifespan of 19.38 years, with values up to 22.1 years reported.
How many eggs does the greater scaup lay?
The greater scaup has a representative clutch size of 9.4 eggs and lays one clutch per year; incubation lasts 26.5 days.
When does the greater scaup reach sexual maturity?
The greater scaup reaches sexual maturity at 1.1 years, with reported values from 1.0 to 1.2 years.
Who named the greater scaup?
The greater scaup, Aythya marila, carries the authority (Linnaeus, 1761).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Greater scaup (Aythya marila). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-scaup
“Greater scaup (Aythya marila).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-scaup.
@misc{greater_scaup_2026,
title = {Greater scaup (Aythya marila)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-scaup},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}