Pāpango / NZ Scaup

The Māori name of the New Zealand scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae) is pāpango, which means kinda black in colour. And from a distance, the scaup certainly appears to be brown/black, but up close they do the common bird trick of actually being a lot of different colours. They’re not just brown and black, but also green, blue, purple and even some white, all with an iridescent sheen. This is the male, which has a wider range of colours, plus the yellow eyes. They are compact little duck, adept divers who bob around on the surface like rubber ducks.