The New Zealand Scaup is a diving duck. Large flocks can gather along lakeshores, sometimes close to people.
Males have black-brown plumage, an iridescent blue-green head and wings, and yellow eyes. Females are chocolate brown with paler underparts and brown eyes.
It is social and obtains most of its food by diving. It takes snails and aquatic insect larvae, and flocks may gather near reeds or willows along sheltered shores.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.