Subject: wigeon stuff
Date: Oct 24 09:18:28 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Michael Price's comments on wigeons were really interesting, and this is
the stuff I think should form the "meat" (or "greens," for vegetarians in
the group) of tweeters material.

The head-bobbing of the kleptoparasitic (or commensal) wigeons made me
speculate fancifully if a white forehead on a male wigeon could mimic a
white coot bill for social interaction (but then, how would female wigeons
placate coots?). These wild (and probably futile) speculative exercises are
among the things that attract me so strongly to nature, I must concede, but
I would like to accompany them with a rigor that rejects them thoroughly
when no evidence accrues. It would be great to look at the difference
between wigeons and gadwalls when feeding commensally with coots, a
wonderful master's or undergraduate research project. I think this behavior
is much more common than it used to be, now that watermilfoil--a primary
food for all 3 species--dominates many lakes.

There are lots of white-faced (in the extreme, which is not rare, the
entire head under the green stripe is cream-colored and unmarked) wigeons
down here south of the border too, and for years I have wondered what is
going on with that variant.

One more wigeon wonderment: there is a conspicuous lack of female Eurasian
Wigeons in the area, probably attributable to the fact that male ducks
disperse more than females (unlike many birds, in which the reverse is
true). I know females are harder to pick out, but (1) when I have carefully
studied easily observed flocks at close range I find little evidence of
female Eurasians (in fact, it is always exciting when one can be picked
out), and (2) in the spring when male Americans are mated, one doesn't
usually find mated male Eurasians. Any further comments on this?


Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound email: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416