Eurasian Wigeon are regular but rare winter vagrants to Utah with most records occurring between October and April. In most cases these individuals are associating with large flocks of American Wigeons. This individual was mixed in a flock of about 1000 American Wigeon, moving between the pond and a local golf course.
Click here for photos from January of 2009 of an individual that may be the same individual. Although the green feathering in the head struck me as being from a possible hybrid, Rick Fridell (who also happened to find this individual) informed me that this is common in something like 40% of Eurasian Wigeons. Good information to know!
Labels: rare birds, video, washington county, waterfowl
2 Comments:
I also thought the winter 2009 / 2010 wigeon (likely the same bird in the Dec 2010 video above) might be a hybrid....however, after a couple British birders reviewed photos, I was told the green markings were fairly common on Eurasian Wigeon and could occur in relatively high frequency in some populations. Here are a couple links to a European bird forum discussing the green head feathering on Eurasian Wigeons: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=107589
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=107618
Rick Fridell
Rick,
Interesting information. Most of the actual hybrids shown have obvious traits from both species. The one individual in this thread is unique to the conversation:
http://bit.ly/gAYKKX
This bird shows an entire green swatch--which I am guessing is just sheen. That bird otherwise shows all EUWI traits. The Hurricane bird is similar in that all its traits point to EUWI--minus the small patches of green feathers, which now makes sense.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Back to Previous