Today in Reston it "wasn't a day fit for ducks" as the saying goes.
However, encouraged by (mistaken) forecasts that the rain would end this
afternoon I set out in search of the Eurasian Wigeon in Fauquier County,
first reported on this list on 3/11.
The search did not begin well. In relative terms, the weather was clearer
than Reston's when I arrived at the Harrison Road pond about 1:45 P.M., but
the key word is "relative". The rain had essentially stopped except for a
few brief periods of very light "mist". However, the moisture in the air
and the low, dark clouds made scope birding at the distance of the pond from
the road a study in gray tones.
My first scan of the pond yielded NO Wigeons of any kind - one pair each of
Bufflehead and Common Merganser and a small raft of Ring-billed Ducks were
the best I could find. After several minutes, two pair of American Wigeons
emerged from where they had been hidden from view by the near side bank of
the pond. By now, the seeing was so bad that I could not pick up the white
forehead and cap on the males, giving them an oddly flat-headed "dark over
light" look. I stayed at the pond for another ten minutes, picking up about
a dozen American Wigeons in all, but none appeared to have the dark head and
neck, pale gray sides and back of a Eurasian Wigeon. If he was there, my
eyes and scope (an HD80 Swarovski) couldn't pick him out.
I decided to follow Todd Day's directions and check out the second pond on
Rte 709. But the misty rain returned and I opted to pass up this site
rather than haul out the scope again.
Returning down Harrison Road the rain once again abated, so I set up the
scope for one more try at the target bird. Same results as the first stop
for the next ten minutes. But in my last pass before leaving, I spotted one
bird that looked a bit different. The head and neck appeared darker and the
body lighter than two other Wigeons in the same field of view. These three
were farther out than the main group, but the apparent differences in
plumages in the farthest out bird were noticeable. So maybe I did see the
Eurasian Wigeon, maybe I didn't. The lighter gray back and sides would seem
to be diagnostic, but it would have been nice to see some defining rufous in
that darker head and neck. Also the contrast between the head/neck and
sides/back did not appear as sharp as I would have expected. So I can't rule
out atmospheric distortion and hopeful imagination as the source of the
apparent differences in this one bird.
The misty rain began again, so I packed for home. Hopefully the Eurasian
Wigeon will still be around over the next few days as the weather improves.
Other birds of note at the Harrison Road stop were: three very vocal Eastern
Meadowlarks and about half a dozen Killdeer on the western mud bank of the
pond.
D. Michael Reyman
Reston, VA
dreyman@xxxxxxxxxxx
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