Subject: hybrid wigeon
Date: Mar 29 09:45:22 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu

It would be interesting to get as good a description as possible (or
photos) of the wigeon Joe Barsugli reported. Hybrids often show a mixture
of reddish and gray on the body plumage that distinguishes them. We saw a
hybrid at Nisqually on 3/27, superficially like an American but with pale
reddish below the green head stripe and a mixture of pinkish and gray on
the sides. Eurasians have entirely gray back and sides, Americans pinkish;
both have pinkish breasts. Some American Wigeon males have the area below
the green stripe entirely cream-colored, while most have it gray-brown and
streaked. I think there are probably lots of hybrids, from the number I've
seen, perhaps parallelling the Tufted Duck situation.