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.
A female wigeon head that colour can only be Eurasian. Many female EUWI have even duller brown heads than this bird.
ReplyDeleteB Mactavish
St. John's, Newfoundland.
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.
ReplyDeleteAgreed 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 ;)
Definitely EUWI!
ReplyDeleteFemales are easily overlooked. Nice find!
All unusual birds are hybrids...
ReplyDeleteNice find Ken. Still present as of today (not by me).
ReplyDeleteHey guys,
ReplyDeleteI 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...