Subject: Eurasian Wigeon breeding record for NA
Date: Feb 14 20:17:31 2000
From: Tangren family - tangren at mail.crcwnet.com


Can't compete with the Yukon, but there are at least two
late spring (mid-May and later) records for Douglas Co.,
WA (I'd be more specific but we moved last summer and I
still don't know where the kids put all my library). One
reference is in Yocum et al, the other by an Audubon
Birdathon team. They also seem to show in early
fall along the Columbia River. It wouldn't surprise me if someone
eventually found them breeding in north central Washington.

--Jerry <tangren at crcwnet.com>
E. Wenatchee WA

>I have a breeding season sight record of a male Eurasian Wigeon from a
>partially ice-free lake besides the Dempster Highway in the Blackstone
>Uplands of the southern Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon. The
>date was 27 May 1993. This bird could not be relocated at this site a week
>later 2 June, so I suspect it moved north, as it was with other migrant
>ducks (Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, (1),
>Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead (1, scarce this far
>north), Ring-necked Duck, both Greater and Lesser Scaup, Harlequin Duck,
>Oldsquaw, Surf and White-winged Scoter, Barrow's Goldeneye, and
>Red-breasted Merganser. It certainly seems plausible Eurasian Wigeons breed
>in North America, but this is all the evidence I have for this on this
>continent.
>
>By the way, driving the 700 km Dempster "Highway," actually a one-lane
>gravel road from the Klondike gold fields to the MacKenzie River delta
>almost on the Arctic Ocean at Inuvik is a marvelous experience (several
>birdwatching tour companies now "Do" this trip). Best time is before
>mid-June. If you do it yourself, be certain you have at least two extra
>spare tires (sharp shale comprises the road bed, as there is only one
>repair station on the highway (in the middle at Eagle Plains, but not a
>horrible place to be stranded as there are Gray-cheeked Thrushes in the
>area and marvelous views north to the Richardson Mountains).
>
>Andy Stepniewski
>Wapato WA
>steppie at wolfenet.com
>
>----------