Distribution and Habitat
The Greater Scaup has a circumpolar distribution, breeding within the Arctic Circle both in the Old World (the Palearctic) and North America (the Nearctic). It spends the summer months in Alaska, Siberia. and the northern parts of Europe. It is also found in Asia, and is present in the Aleutian Islands year round. The summer habitat is marshy lowland tundra and islands in fresh water lakes. In the fall, the Greater Scaup populations start their migration south for the winter. They winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, the coasts of northwest Europe, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the coast of Japan, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. During the winter months, they are found in coastal bays, estuaries, and sometimes inland lakes, such as the lakes of Central Europe and the Great Lakes.
In Europe, the Greater Scaup breeds in Iceland, the northern coasts of the Scandinavian peninsula, including much of the northern parts of the Baltic Sea, the higher mountains of Scandinavia and the areas close to the Arctic Sea in Russia. These birds spend the winters in the British Isles, western Norway, the southern tip of Sweden, the coast from Brittany to Poland, including all of Denmark, the Alps, the eastern Adriatic Sea, the northern and western Black sea and the southwestern Caspian Sea.
In North America, the Greater Scaup summers in Newfoundland and Labrador, along with Ungava Bay, the Hudson Bay, Lake Winnipeg, Northern Yukon, Northern Manitoba, and Northern Saskatchewan. It winters in Nova Scotia New Brunswick, and the entire west coast of British Columbia. It will also winter along the entire west coast of North America, including the Baja Peninsula. The Greater Scaup also winters along the shores of the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and the entire US east coast from Maine to Florida.
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