Male Greater Scaup

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The Greater and Lesser Scaups are somewhat hard to distinguish. The greater is about 18" long and the lesser is 17.5". The Greater Scaup has a greenish cast in the black feathers whereas the Lesser has a purplish cast. The Greater's head is a little more round. Both varieties are found in our area (Vancouver, Canada) but the Greater is more common here than the Lesser.

This is a manipulated image. The whole image has been converted to black and white except the beak, eye and a small patch under the eye.  The reduction of the colour brings out the texture in the feathers - although this is far more noticable in a large print than in the images made for the web.

The camera recorded the following information in the original image file:

Friday, 25 March, 2005
   3:20:36.7 PM
   Color
Data Format:         RAW (12-bit) 
Compression:         None
Image Size:          3216 X 2136
Lens:                80-400mm f3.5-5.6
Focal Length:        330mm
Exposure Mode:       Aperture Priority
Metering Mode:       Multi-Pattern
   1/250 sec-f/8
Exposure Comp:       -1/3 EV
Exposure Difference: 0 EV
AF Mode:             AF-C
Hue Adjustment:      0
Saturation:          Normal
SpeedLight Mode:     Not Attached
Sensitivity:         ISO 320
Color Mode:          Mode III (Adobe RGB)
White Balance:       Cloudy
Tone Compensation:   Auto
Sharpening:          Auto
Model:               Nikon D2x
Camera ID:           Gerald & Irmgard Carter