Please see picture gallery below – if you have any pix please send to sheilaelliot@yahoo.com)

October Bird of the Month – American Wigeon 

From Ben Kolstad’s article in the October Kite:

 According to Arthur Cleveland Bent, the name “wigeon” or “widgeon” is what hunters back in the day would call duck species that they couldn’t readily identify. (According to Choate’s Dictionary of American Bird Names, “wigeon” comes from the French vigeon, whistling duck. According to Holloway’s Dictionary of Birds of North America, that same word, French vigeon, is a small crane. [That’s right—two different dictionary writers translate the same word two different ways. Believe whichever one you prefer.]) As you might expect, Bent’s “wigeon as unidentified duck” would apply most readily to the female, as many female ducks are hard for the casual observer to separate. But the other oldtime name for Anas americana, or American Wigeon, certainly applies to the male in breeding plumage: Baldpate. That shining forehead is what gives it away.

A dabbling duck, American Wigeon winters in Palm Beach County in relatively small numbers, although it’s possible to run across flocks of dozens to hundreds of these birds in our STAs. A mid-sized duck, AMWI is smaller than our Mottled Duck or Mallard but quite a bit larger than the “small” ducks in the genus Anas, like the teals. Breeding-plumaged males have a dark green head, often reduced to “dark” by distance or glare, but quite brilliant in the right light. (This green on the head is one way to distinguish it from the cinnamon-headed but also baldpated Eurasian Wigeon breeding-plumaged male). That bright white or buffy forehead is what gave it the nickname “baldpate.” It tends to carry its small gray bill, outlined in black, pointed down toward the water as if depressed (or just hungry and looking for food)

Come to our October meeting to hear more about this bird.

(Photographer’s please note that next month’s November 2014 Bird will be the  Northern Shoveler)