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American Wigeon
Mareca americana
Identify the American Wigeon by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The American Wigeon is a medium-sized dabbling duck of North America, the New World counterpart of the Eurasian Wigeon. Males have a creamy white crown and a green eye patch – hence the nickname “baldpate” – while females closely resemble female Eurasian Wigeon. It breeds across Canada, Alaska and the northern interior of the United States and winters south to Central America and the Caribbean. It is a rare but regular vagrant to Europe.
Did you know?
- It is nicknamed “baldpate” for the male's white crown.
- It often steals plants from diving coots, earning names such as “poacher”.
About the species
Identification
The breeding male has pinkish flanks and breast, a brownish back, bright white wing patches and a white belly; the head is greyish with a bright green patch behind the eye and a white crown stripe, and the bill is pale blue-grey with a black tip. The female closely resembles female Eurasian Wigeon but has a greyer head contrasting with the body and white axillaries; the eclipse male resembles the female.
Family
Anatidae
Size
Large (crow)
Colours
brown, grey, white, green
About the habitat
Open wetlands, marshes, lakes, bogs and wet meadows with shallow water; outside the breeding season also fields and pastures.
Diet
Mainly aquatic plants and roots taken by dabbling, as well as grasses and waste grain grazed on land; it often steals plants brought to the surface by coots and diving ducks. Occasionally insects and snails.
Behaviour
A noisy duck: the drake gives a whistled “whee-whew”, the female hoarse quacks. Highly gregarious outside the breeding season, it forms large flocks. It nests on the ground under cover near water; the female incubates while the male leaves before hatching.
Sources
Photo: Polinova, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American Wigeon Male.jpg
Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wigeon
