Monday, January 21, 2013

Any help with this wigeon???

My Dad and I were touring Haldimand County yesterday.  Despite the crazy winds, it was still a lot of fun just to get out, especially in an area I don't go to very often and in an area that has great potential for birds at any season.

Anyways, one of the highlights was this female-type wigeon. If there are some things to say about it.
1. the bird was much brighter reddish/brown/buff in person -> the pic. doesn't do it justice
2. there were 3 drake AMWI's present and this bird didn't associate with them at all
3. that's about it.

Below is the original:
Bird is top right-ish

Below is a cropped shot:


What do people think? Is it just a 'normal' American? Eurasian? Hybrid?

We didn't have too much in the way of unusual species, though we came across a nice flock of Redpoll's. We estimate about 230 birds. With scope views we had 3 definite Hoaries -> not a bad Haldimand tick.

6 comments:

  1. A female wigeon head that colour can only be Eurasian. Many female EUWI have even duller brown heads than this bird.

    B Mactavish
    St. John's, Newfoundland.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another vote for EUWI. Structurally this bird looks more similar to EUWI than AMWI, appearing relatively small-headed and perhaps with a steeper forhead/flatter crown than what one would expect from a AMWI. Though that is hard to tell based on one or two photos.

    Agreed with Bruce regarding head colour...looks really good for EUWI.

    It would be nice to see a shot of the wing pattern to clinch it ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Definitely EUWI!
    Females are easily overlooked. Nice find!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice find Ken. Still present as of today (not by me).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey guys,

    I never thanks everyone for their input...but I really appreciated it.

    I thought I'd give a summary of the feedback I got:
    Total # of people to let me know their thoughts = 12
    # who thought it EUWI = 9
    # who thought it was a hybrid... = 1
    # who thought it wasn't a EUWI = 0
    # who weren't sure, but thought it was more EUWI than AMWI = 2

    Good enough for me. Seems similar to when you see a Golden-winged Warbler with minor impure characteristics...

    ReplyDelete