Friday afternoon I birded briefly at Sayres/Genesee Park where I ran into
Catherine Alexander and we scanned the flock of wigeon for what we hoped
would be our first Eurasian for the millennium. Soon we spotted the
typical male Eurasian on the edge of the large flock of Americans and
followed him from grass to water and back, debating whether the dark
brown headed female in his area was also Eurasian. The male appeared a
perfect match to the illustrations in Nat. Geogr. (pg. 81), Kaufman
(pg. 21), and Sibley (pg. 85 - "adult breeding"). As we watched, the male
turned sideways and his head was bathed in bright afternoon sunlight (at
least I think that's what the light was - it's so rare in January). The
area on the evenly pigmented rufous side of his head behind (to the rear
of) his eye sparkled with diffuse iridescent green. The bird did not look
like either of the hybrids illustrated in Sibley. There was no facial
pattern until the sun hit. It made me wonder if this was a real hybrid,
or whether I had just never seen a male Eurasian in full sun before.
If you get down to Sayres Park, particularly on a sunny day, be
sure to check this rascal out (as well as all the other more usual water
birds in this area of Lake Washington this time of year).
Fran Wood (male)
Seattle (Madrona) 323-2296