Bird
Lesser Scaup
Aythya affinis
A winter visitor to Louisiana, found in all 64 parishes and 7 habitats.
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 7

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 7
- Habitat models
- Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 7
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (39)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (25)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
- Cumberland Riverscour Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Winter.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp 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 (12)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier 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.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Winter: does not nest here, in all 64 parishes.
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 92
- Erect KnotweedPolygonum erectum
- Tall KnotweedPolygonum ramosissimum
- Clasping-leaf PondweedPotamogeton perfoliatus
- Leafy PondweedPotamogeton foliosus
- Longleaf PondweedPotamogeton nodosus
- Ribbonleaf PondweedPotamogeton epihydrus
- Small PondweedPotamogeton pusillus
- Spotted PondweedPotamogeton pulcher
- Waterthread PondweedPotamogeton diversifolius
- Dark-green BulrushScirpus atrovirens
- Drooping BulrushScirpus lineatus
- Georgia BulrushScirpus georgianus
- Spreading BulrushScirpus divaricatus
- Woolgrass BulrushScirpus cyperinus
- Broadleaf ArrowheadSagittaria latifolia
- Broad Leaf Arrow HeadSagittaria latifolia var. latifolia
- Bull-tongue ArrowheadSagittaria lancifolia
- Chapman's ArrowheadSagittaria chapmanii
- Delta ArrowheadSagittaria platyphylla
- Grassy ArrowheadSagittaria graminea
- Longbeak ArrowheadSagittaria australis
- Common DuckweedLemna minor
- Least DuckweedLemna minuta
- Lesser DuckweedLemna aequinoctialis
Plant genera in its diet records (18)
- Polygonum Seeds. 5 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Potamogeton Seeds and leaves. 5 diet records. 7 native plants in Louisiana
- Scirpus Seeds. 4 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
- Sagittaria Seeds. 3 diet records. 7 native plants in Louisiana
- Lemna Leaves. 2 diet records. 6 native plants in Louisiana
- Bolboschoenus Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Ceratophyllum Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Chara Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Cyperus Seeds. 1 diet record. 32 native plants in Louisiana
- Dysphania Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Myriophyllum Leaves. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Louisiana
- Najas Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Nymphaea Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Louisiana
- Persicaria Seeds. 1 diet record. 10 native plants in Louisiana
- Rumex Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Schoenoplectus Seeds. 1 diet record. 6 native plants in Louisiana
- Stuckenia Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Zizania Leaves. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in Louisiana
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Louisiana, 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 135
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- Rose-breasted GrosbeakPheucticus ludovicianus
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- DunlinCalidris alpina
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
Plants 237
- Black Highbush BlueberryVaccinium fuscatum
- Dahoon HollyIlex cassine
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Dark-green SedgeCarex venusta
- Fringed SedgeCarex crinita
- Ravenfoot SedgeCarex crus-corvi
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 139
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
Plants 84
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Pinewoods FingergrassEustachys petraea
- Sea OatsUniola paniculata
- Beach Evening-primroseOenothera drummondii
- Saltwater False-willowBaccharis angustifolia
- Gulf CrotonCroton punctatus
- CamphorweedHeterotheca subaxillaris
- Cottony Golden-asterChrysopsis gossypina
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Birds 179
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-chinned HummingbirdArchilochus alexandri
- BobolinkDolichonyx oryzivorus
- Bronzed CowbirdMolothrus aeneus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- DickcisselSpiza americana
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Rufous HummingbirdSelasphorus rufus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
Plants 20
- Slender FimbryFimbristylis autumnalis
- Purple SpikerushEleocharis atropurpurea
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- BagpodGlottidium vesicarium
- Tropical FlatsedgeCyperus surinamensis
- Blunt Spike RushEleocharis obtusa
- False DaisyEclipta prostrata
- Bristly SedgeCarex comosa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Southern Marsh YellowcressRorippa teres
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
- Ditch FimbryFimbristylis schoenoides
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Lesser Scaup Slow streams only
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)
- Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0), diet records by plant genus











































































