The Scaup (Aythya marila) is a common duck in ponds and lakes both in the Icelandic lowlands and highlands, especially in the North and the East.  The breeding populations counts around  2000-5000 pairs. Most of them leave the country in the autumn and overwinter by the shores of Irland and Britain.

The Scaup is a common breeding bird in Veiðivötn in the southern interior of Iceland. There the males gather in big groups in July and shed, or moult,their feathers . You can see up to 700 birds in a group. Scaups are synchronous moulters, they change their flight feathers all at once in a period of two to four weeks. During this period they cannot fly.

The photoes are taken in Veiðivötn, in the South Interior.