Now that wintering waterfowl have mostly moved on, I think back to some of the loveliest ducks we've seen. The American Wigeon is always a delight to see! They're both adorable and elegant. They're not too big, not too small - just right.
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| Coming in for a smooch?! Or just wanting to feed on the same duck weed patch… Likely but not as cute. |
A nice little trick to figuring out duck species is to think about "
Where's the white?" Other than the head, you can see just a little tease of a strip of white on its wing and white hip patch.
The first set of American Wigeons in this post are ones we saw at Talking Water Gardens in Albany, OR. There so many of them this past November when we birded this quaint little spot. This sunny late fall/early winter day really highlighted the gorgeous colors in these birds.
As through most of this winter, I had the luck of spotting out a couple of Eurasian Wigeons in the bunch. I just love these cinnamony cousins of the American Wigeon. I always get excited when we can find one of them!
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| The cinammony delicious Eurasian Wigeon |
This next bunch of American Wigeons we spotted at Green Lake in Seattle, WA (where we also got lifer Redpolls!). The typical Seattle overcast gave these birds a more moody, grungy feel. Hipster Wigeons?
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| This one is just feeling so emo... |
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| This male is just so over it. (But isn't he lovely?) |
You can spot American Wigeons with their stout little bodies and smoothly rounded heads. The males have this creamy, buttery yellow or buffy on it's face and going mohawk style over the top of its head, but it's that glimmering emerald green going from its eye all along the side of its head that gives it an air of mystique and just wows you.
Love widgeons! That rubber duckie sound they make is so evocative of waterfowl. As always your photos are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply. Thanks, Bryony! They do make adorable sounds, don't they? :)
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