Lesser Scaup

Last Sunday I managed to continue my Manchester rarities catch up. Another of the long stayers was at Pennington Flash in the form of a drake Lesser Scaup. The day I caught up with it, was it's 5th week on the Flash. Having seen photos of it in severe moult, it is no wonder it has stayed around. It was going nowhere without the ability to fly. The Lesser Scaup is from North America and tends to stay within America, migrating further South but rarely across the Atlantic to Britain. This bird must have blown off course by quite some distance. Still, it's great to see a bird like this at such close proximity. Yet another lifer for me, in a very productive few weeks.