Dennis and Tweeters,



The Samish Flats is certainly a good place for Eurasian Wigeon, and there
have been several counts of dozens of males at this locality. However, it is
not the only place in our area that produces numbers like that, and I don't
think March is the only time when one can find that many Eurasians.



In BC, Westham Island and the Reifel Bird Sanctuary regularly produce counts
of between 50 and 100 Eurasian Wigeon-and this is males alone-throughout the
winter. These high counts occur only when large numbers of wigeon are
feeding in the fields along Westham Island Road; they are harder to pick out
when they are feeding in intertidal areas. I can't remember offhand the
highest one-day count, but it is certainly well over 100 birds, and nearly
all males at that.



Boundary Bay also has high numbers of Eurasian Wigeon on frequent occasions.
About 2 years ago, there was a group of about 35 Eurasian Wigeon (once
again, males only) among only about 150 American Wigeon in a field near 72nd
Street in Delta, which remained there for a couple of weeks.



I don't believe that it is possible to say that there are "far fewer females
than males" in any particular flock, because in my experience, most female
Eurasian Wigeon are not safely identifiable in the field.

As you know, there are two color phases of female Eurasians. The "Rufous
phase", which has a much more reddish head, certainly can be picked out in
the field, but the gray phase (which is more numerous) generally cannot.
This is what Bellrose says in his waterfowl book, and it agrees with my
experience.



A few things can be said for sure about Eurasian Wigeon:



(1)They have steadily been getting more and more numerous over the last 40
years in our area.



(2)Hybrids between American and Eurasian Wigeon, once very rare, are now
fairly common and are also steadily increasing.



(3)The ratio of Eurasians to Americans varies from place to place, but it is
not unusual to have flocks of wigeon that include 10% or more of Eurasians
(based on male birds).



(4)East of the Cascades, Eurasians are much scarcer than on the west side,
and seem to be seen much more often in spring migration (March and early
April). This seems to be the case in both BC and Washington.



Although a flock of wigeon that appears to contain more than 50% Eurasians
seems to be unusual, it may not be quite as unusual as we think. We tend to
assume that Eurasian and American Wigeon are identical in their ecology, but
they may not be. There may indeed be some factor which attracts Eurasians
more than Americans to certain spots. In any case, the areas around the
Samish Flats (Samish and Padilla Bays), Westham & Reifel Islands, and
Boundary Bay each typically have more than 5.000 wintering American Wigeon,
and it's unlikely that Eurasians ever make up anything close to 10% of the
wigeon in these larger areas.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net









From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: March-30-08 6:22 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Eurasian Wigeon bonanza!



Hello, tweets.



Netta and I drove around the lowlands north of Seattle, including Whidbey
Island, today trying to find someplace in the sun, or even out of the rain,
mostly with futility. The high point of the day was north of the West 90,
west of Edison, Skagit County, in the morning. We checked the wigeon flocks
for Eurasians, just as a matter of habit, and in one flock to the west of
the road, there were 3 male Eurasians with about 25 Americans, a satisfying
ratio. The next flock up the road blew my mind. I stopped the car and put
the bins on them, and, because they were fairly close to the road, all put
their heads up. I quick-counted 36 male Eurasians in a flock that had only
about twice as many birds, perhaps 80 at the maximum. In my quick scan I saw
at least a couple of females, but alas, they were a little too close to the
road, and our stopping agitated them sufficiently that they shot into the
air and away across the field, many landing behind ridges and a minority
remaining in sight. I had wanted to check closely for female Eurasians and
count the Americans and, above all, get photos, but it was not to be. The
density of Eurasians was so high that I probably could have got 20 in a
photo.



We scanned the fields farther out (meanwhile birds from the first flock had
also flushed and spread out) and we could see one group of about 30 birds
that had 9 male Eurasians and two definite females, both paired with male
Eurasians. Some birds had their heads down, so there could have been more
females. There is no doubt that there are far fewer females than males.
There also seems to be no doubt that this is the Eurasian Wigeon capital of
the Pacific Northwest, perhaps North America (I don't know the numbers that
are seen in Alaska, probably more than in Washington on the average). I have
counted up to 50 male Eurasians in a flock of many hundreds of Americans in
about the same area in other springs, but I could never have imagined
stopping for a smallish wigeon flock and have most of the heads that pop up
be red! Not getting a photo was a bit of a personal tragedy, and my new
motto is "shoot first, ask questions later."



But beyond my personal travails, I think this is of the greatest interest.
No one reports numbers of Eurasian Wigeons like this at other places in
Washington, and I don't think anyone has reported numbers like this at this
place earlier in the winter. Do these birds come from all around and "stage"
on the Samish Flats each spring? That seems more likely than that we are
missing big flocks of Eurasians somewhere during the winter. You'll recall
this is where a male Falcated Duck was seen on two different springs with
these large groups of Eurasians. It must be on the route to Siberia!

-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net