I'm in Titusville, Fla. Last year I photographed a Male Eurasian Wigeon mating with a female American Wigeon. Believe me I look hard for female Eurasian Wigeons. Here's the picture. You can share if you like. Danny Bales CC: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx From: harpagus@xxxxxxxxx Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: Why only male Eurasian Wigeons Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2013 09:57:27 -0600 To: elegrand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx It's a good question, but (based on admittedly zero evidence) I'll suggest that females in this case are simply overlooked. I can't come up with a reason why females would not wander just as much as males. Best birding,Stefan WoltmannMontgomery Co. TN On Dec 1, 2013, at 9:49, "Ed Legrand" <elegrand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I can explain why the Eurasian Wigeons are always males. About 30 years ago while birding at Gray Lodge WMA in California’s Sacramento Valley, over the course of the winter’s day we found about a dozen male Eurasian Wigeons among several thousand American Wigeons. Despite often excellent viewing conditions and actively working at it (Robbins’ field guide in hand), my companions and I could not confidently say we had found a female Eurasian Wigeon (I see they were called European Widgeon [sic] (Mareca penelope) then). Since then, it’s been only males that I’ve identified. Not saying it’s impossible to pick out a female, but … Ed LeGrandCumberland Co., TNFrom: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bill Pulliam Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2013 4:32 PM To: Tn bird Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: Eurasion Wigeon present This makes three of the last four winters with an adult male Eurasian Wigeon spotted somewhere along the Tennessee River/Kentucky Lake corridor between Britton Ford and Savannah Bottoms. Makes one wonder if they have possibly all been the same bird? Bill PulliamHohenwald TN On Nov 30, 2013, at 1:04 PM, Michael Todd wrote: 11/30/2013 Britton Ford, Henry Co When I arrived about 10 AM, David Kirschke and the Routledges were already there, with the bird in and out of view with the large group of Wigeon present. They would walk around the point to the north, then fly out in mass a hundred yards or so, only to steadily walk back out of view. This went on several times, before the drake Eurasian finally decided to take a long nap, on the point buried in amongst the various other ducks. Most of the this time, it was effectively invisible due to being behind so many other birds. Ruben Stoll arrived in time to see it, and Bill Lisowski of KY (finder of the recent Say's Phoebe at Reelfoot), arrived just a couple of minutes after the whole group flew to the south end of the bay here, which is largely hidden from view. You have to move around a lot to try to see into this area, and we hadn't relocated the bird when I left about 11:30. It is still in the area though. Also 3 Cackling Geese flew by trailing a group of White-fronts. Otherwise, just the expected birds of the area, with a few Forster's Terns a nice addition. I didn't check any of the other areas here, though others were. I've placed 2 distant shots of the Eurasian Wigeon in a gallery here: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/gallery/winter_201314 Hopefully others will get some better shots of this very sharp bird, showing no signs of hybridization.
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EURASIAN WIGEON MATIING WITH AMERICAN WIGEON.jpg
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