States
North CarolinaTennesseeGeorgiaSouth CarolinaKentuckyAlabamaArkansasFloridaLouisianaMississippiVirginiaWest Virginia
Menu

Bird

Lesser Scaup

Aythya affinis

A winter visitor to Florida, found in all 67 counties and 13 habitats.

Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 67 counties
Habitats
13

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 67 counties
Habitats
13
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Florida 13

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 13

Coastal dunes and beaches

White Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola
WinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal WetlandGeorge Catlin, White Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola (1834-35): high white dunes with scattered clumps of dune plants above the Gulf. Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, FloridaWhite Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola, George Catlin (1796-1872), 1834-1835. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal Plain hammocks

In the Jungle, Florida
WinterSouthern Coastal Plain Hydric HammockWinslow Homer, In the Jungle, Florida (1904): cabbage palms, saw palmetto and fallen trunks in a dense, shady hammock, with a wildcat in the branches. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Winslow Homer, In the Jungle, Florida, 1904)In the Jungle, Florida, Winslow Homer, 1904. Public domain. Source record.

Freshwater marshes

The Great Florida Marsh
WinterSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier; South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh; Floridian Highlands Freshwater MarshMartin Johnson Heade, The Great Florida Marsh (1886): open marsh and lily-dotted water beneath live oaks and cabbage palms. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Heade, The Great Florida Marsh, 1886; North Carolina Museum of Art)The Great Florida Marsh, Martin Johnson Heade, 1886. Public domain. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Florida Sunrisetitle QS:P1476,en:"Florida Sunrise"label QS:Len,"Florida Sunrise"
WinterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreMartin Johnson Heade, Florida Sunrise: still water and a palm-fringed shore glowing at dawn. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Heade, Florida Sunrise, c. 1890-1900)Florida Sunrisetitle QS:P1476,en:"Florida Sunrise"label QS:Len,"Florida Sunrise", Martin Johnson Heade, c. 1890-1900. Public domain. Source record.

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

Fort George Island, Florida
WinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)Thomas Moran, Fort George Island (1878): a tidal shore of wet sand and shallow water at the river mouth, with cabbage palms and a beached ship. Fort George Island, Florida (Thomas Moran, 1878; Smithsonian American Art Museum)Fort George Island, Florida, Thomas Moran, 1878. Public domain. Source record.

Swamps

Florida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha
WinterSouthern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; South Florida Bayhead Swamp; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp; South Florida Cypress Dome; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress DomeFlorida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha (1899): a dark swamp-lined river at sunset, with cypress and hardwoods crowding both banks. Ocklawaha River, FloridaFlorida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha, Detroit Photographic Co. (chromolithograph), 1899. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

WinterSouthern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

WinterCentral Florida Herbaceous Pondshore; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Winter

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterFlorida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Mangrove swamps

Tidal forests and thickets of red, black and white mangrove along sheltered tropical and subtropical shores.

Winter

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh; Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh
Other habitats in its models (23)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida. Those recorded in Florida first, the rest by region.

In Florida 3

  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
Elsewhere in the South (9)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
  • Cumberland Riverscour Winter.
  • Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Winter.
Northeast (2)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
Land cover and other classes (9)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
  • Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Florida

  • Winter: does not nest here, in all 67 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 116

Plant genera in its diet records (18)
  • Polygonum Seeds. 5 diet records. 10 native plants in Florida
  • Potamogeton Seeds and leaves. 5 diet records. 10 native plants in Florida
  • Scirpus Seeds. 4 diet records. 4 native plants in Florida
  • Sagittaria Seeds. 3 diet records. 12 native plants in Florida
  • Lemna Leaves. 2 diet records. 5 native plants in Florida
  • Bolboschoenus Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Florida
  • Ceratophyllum Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Florida
  • Chara Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Cyperus Seeds. 1 diet record. 37 native plants in Florida
  • Dysphania Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Myriophyllum Leaves. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Florida
  • Najas Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in Florida
  • Nymphaea Seeds. 1 diet record. 6 native plants in Florida
  • Persicaria Seeds. 1 diet record. 11 native plants in Florida
  • Rumex Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Florida
  • Schoenoplectus Seeds. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in Florida
  • Stuckenia Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Florida
  • Zizania Leaves. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Florida

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Florida, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Swamps

Birds 93

Plants 353

All of swamps in Florida

Salt and brackish marshes

Birds 92

Plants 56

All of salt and brackish marshes in Florida

Freshwater marshes

Birds 85

Plants 251

All of freshwater marshes in Florida

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources