Hi Ben:

I have never heard of this ... and I subscribe to all of the UK birding 
magazines and follow the Western Palearctic taxonomic news fairly closely. 
I just double checked and both scaup remain firmly embossed on the The 
British List ...

         http://www.bou.org.uk/recbrlst.html

Of course, both scaup are on the AOU checklist, our official source for 
North American taxonomy ...

         http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3

Hope this helps ...

Phil


At 20:13 11/14/2004 -0500, Ben Poscover wrote:

>Perhaps you can help me. I just returned from a five day birding trip with 
>the Brooks Bird Club of W.Va. We birded DelMarVa. Last evening we were 
>getting a final tally of birds when the leader came to Greater/Lesser 
>Scaup. I mentioned Lesser Scaup and a man with a loud, authoritarian voice 
>said in a rather belligerent manner that there were no more Lesser Scaup 
>but they were now known only as Greater Scaup. What ever characteristic 
>one used in the past as an identifying factor (head shape, wing 
>discoloration, side color, it mattered not) none of these were definitive 
>and thus it was decided that there would be only Greater Scaup. He said, 
>"They are doing this in Britain." I had never heard of this nor had anyone 
>at my table. Can you shed any light on this for me please?

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Phil Davis      Davidsonville, Maryland     USA
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