Natural Selection

American Wigeon by Laura Wolf, used with acknowledgement under Creative Commons Licence

Yesterday I had a pleasant morning taking part in the Lancaster district winter bird survey. In my assigned square I saw over 300 Whooper Swans, a couple of thousand Pink-footed Geese and more besides. I was supposed to be at the Blackpool game in the afternoon, but it was off so as Jane was busy I decided to do some more birding.

Most people reading this will know we’ve had a cold snap in these parts. Bearing that in mind and not wanting to want to disturb any birdlife I went to the River Wyre at Little Singleton. I hoped birds normally on saltmarsh ponds and other sites out of view might be on show. Goldeneye sometimes gather on the river bend here and I hoped just maybe for a Smew with them.

There were hundreds of ducks and geese on the water and I was able to scan through without disturbing them in the bad weather. I was counting the Mallard when I was stopped in my tracks by a bird facing away with chestnut flanks and large white flashes around the tail. My best guess was a drake Shoveler, but when it turned round things got exciting.

I could only be looking at a drake American Wigeon or American Wigeon hybrid with one of ‘our’ Wigeon. As I fumbled round trying to sort an image of some kind the bird walked up the river bank onto a lawn on the far bank. As it did so it showed white armpits, which is an American Wigeon feature. I sought reinforcements and a local birder came out to join me

Everything looked ok for a drake American Wigeon except the face pattern. You can see from the picture at the top of this post what a drake American Wigeon normally looks like. It has a brilliant gaudy emerald stripe running from the eye through to the back of the head. The bird we were watching clearly didn’t even though everything else looked good.

I suggested that perhaps it was a first winter drake but I couldn’t remember reading anything saying they looked that different to adults. In the end we decided to share the pictures with another birder locally who has sat on national rarity panels for several years. He was completely happy that it was an American Wigeon and we got the news out to the local birders.

Stuart Darbyshire who’s found one or two American Wigeon in Lancashire had a blog called ‘Wading Through Wigeon’ reflecting the patient sifting through the carrier species in search of the rare cousin. I’ve tiptoed in the shallows generally by comparison, though the Wigeon flock at Myerscough Quarry has given me an escaped Chiloe Wigeon and a clear hybrid bird.

Hybrid wigeon drake (rear) with Eurasian Wigeon drake, Myerscough Quarry February 2021. Eurasian Wigeon can show the green through the eye, but not to this extent and note also the peach extending along the flanks not grey.

I sometimes ponder whether I prefer to find stunning unmistakeable birds or ‘birder’s birds’ that require knowledge of subtle features and require more competence to identify. I also wonder whether it’s best to find something you’ve searched tirelessly for or be completely taken by surprise. This find was a bit of all of that and in many ways that made it really very enjoyable.

The American Wigeon side by side with a drake Eurasian Wigeon (picture by Paul Slade)

*Beauty as in ‘you beauty’ rather than a thing of beauty I guess…