Scaup Aythya marila

The Scaup is a breeding bird in the northern part of the country distributed in the mountain chain and in the archipelagoes of the Baltic coast, where it has decresed markedly in the south. In the Bothnian bay it has more healthy populations. Large flocks are regularly found along the coasts of southern Sweden, especially on the island of Gotland but also in Scania.

Septemberindices for the Scaup mererly show fluctuations over the time series and numbers counted in this month is low. January counts are higher and the trend is increasing but there are marked fluctuations between years.

In some years, the Scaup has been found in large flocks at the coasts of Gotland, whereas smaller flocks are found in other years. During the country-wide survey in 2105 no less than 26850 Scaup were counted mainly around Gotland (see map). At former country-wide surveys in 1971 and 2004 numbers counted were 1100 and 3153, respectively. High numbers have been counted around Gotland also in other recent years. The total count for Sweden in January 2019 was 13800, of these 12335 were found on Gotland and 1002 in a newly established flock in laholmsbukten on the west coast.

Scaup January 2015