Hello Tweets,
This is in response to Michael Shepard's communication (below) and great
photo in Tweeters last week of his male Eurasion Wigeon. Several attempts
to respond to Michael and Tweeters have hit a wall in my computer somehow.
Michael, The photo looks almost exactly like the Eurasian Wigeon on
page 81 of the Nat. Geographic Guide. With respect to the head markings, I
saw a Eurasian male a couple of years ago at the Stan Sayres Pits area along
Lake Washington. The unusual aspect was the bright afternoon sun directly
behind me on a February afternoon. And the duck had the irridescent green
stripe behind the eye of an American W. male! I bounced this into Tweeters,
also wondering about a hybrid, and was referred to the description on page
196 in Madge and Burn's "Waterfowl". This refers to "Usually a small green
patch behind the eye" of the Eurasian male in breeding plumage. My bird
looked like your photo. Perhaps if your bird turned his head a bit (or you
waited a couple of months) you might be overcome with the "green flash".
Fran Wood (male)
fbwood at u.washington.edu
Seattle, WA
----------
From: "Michael G. Shepard" <mgshepard at pacificcoast.net>
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:28:08 -0800
To: "TWEETERS" <TWEETERS at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Eurasian Wigeon or hybrid???

Greetings again.

I've just updated the Eurasian Wigeon web page, and included a photo I took
recently at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria BC.

If I saw this bird way out in a field with some American Wigeon, I would
likely call it an
Eurasian Wigeon. However, I was pretty much standing right next to this
bird, and the head pattern looks a bit suspicious....

The photo can be accessed via
http://www.islandnet.com/~mgs/birds/EurasianWigeon_data.html

Any comments on the bird???

Cheers,

Michael G. Shepard
Victoria BC
North American Bird Information Web Site:
http://www.islandnet.com/~mgs/birds/