Ben Poscover writes:

> 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?

Tell your associate that the American Ornithologists Union AND the
British Ornithologists Union still recognize the two scaup species
and that all of the North American field guides spend time
discussing how to differentiate the two species.