Unusual Wigeon! (1 Viewer)

[Andrew]

Saw this female Wigeon today at Bowling Green Marsh. Very much like an Eurasian Wigeon except for a perfectly formed teardrop shaped white eye ring on both eyes. Overall plumage is also slightly different from the females.

Have checked the guides and can not think of anything other than a possible hybrid, but what with?

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Spectacled Eider

 

[Nutcracker]

Wigeon x Wood Duck? - the patch is spot on for Wood Duck

Apparently Wood Duck has been reported hybridising with more different species than any other duck

 

[Darren Oakley-Martin]

Apparently Wood Duck has been reported hybridising with more different species than any other duck

So not so much a Wood Duck as a Will Duck then?

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

I think this is just an unusual Wigeon, showing the same partial albinism around the eye as for example Laysan duck often does. Everything else looks good for wigeon...

 

[Woodchatshrike]

Structure, size and bill pattern all look good for Wigeon. I once saw a wigeon with an all green head at Slimbridge WWT.

 

[CJW]

So not so much a Wood Duck as a Will Duck then?

:clap: :clap::clap:

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I've seen one or two female Wigeons with quite a bit of white on the head, although never anything as clearly demarcated as this. I'd still favour a bit of partial leucism over a hybrid though because otherwise it looks like a normal Wigeon.

 

[Bluetail]

As Peter says, the tear-drop does look very much like those of female Wood Ducks, but I I'm finding it a bit difficult to get round the idea of a female Wood Duck X female Wigeon hybrid! Never was very strong on biology. Can the male partner in a hybrid pairing produce female characteristics of its species?

 

[Dawsy]

So not so much a Wood Duck as a Will Duck then?

Well I enjoyed that one.

 

[Nutcracker]

Agree, there's nothing apart from the pattern of white to suggest Wood Duck - the rest is 100% Wigeon.

 

[Larry Lade]

That distinctive eye ring is very much like a female Wood Duck. I am not certain how the genetics would sort out on this but I would assume some sort of combination of wigeon X wood duck hybridization might have occurred.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

It could only be a first generation cross (hybrids Wood duck x any other duck are infertile) and that would have some more characteristics reminiscent of wood duck, I guess. Somewhere on a danish or norwegian website I saw a female bird that probably was such a hybrid and it was intermediate between species.

Jason , roughly it is like this:
each male or female animal has also hidden in his or her genes most of the characteristics of the other sex. The expression of the male or female characteristics is due to the sex chromosomes, but also dependend on hormonal levels (eg testosterone and oestrogene-their level also being influenced by the sexual organs the formation of which is a result of the sex chromosomes)
You see this for example in intersexes in ducks: If a female ducks ovaries are destroyed (-oestrogene level in the body is altered then as ovaries produce this), eg. by cancer, it develops male plumage characteristics.
This is just a rough, simplified example...

 

[Al livsey]

A strange one that, Andrew, i've no idea what it is, but i'm hoping to go to BGM myself on Saturday, i'll keep an eye out for it.

 

[mountain man]

The Harlequin Duck on Lewis last year had obvious pale, but clearly defined, whitish marks restricted to its throat and scaps. This lead to it being incorrectly aged as a 1st year male, but it later turned out to be 'just' a female with unusual pale markings.

As others have said, aside from the pale mark around the eye there is nothing else plumage wise or structure wise to suggest it is anything other than a Wigeon. You'd certainly expect something way more messed up than this bird if it had any Wood Duck in it.

 

[timmyjones]

Is the patch around the eyes skin or feathers andrew

 

[Yernagates]

Apparently Wood Duck has been reported hybridising with more different species than any other duck

I always thought that was mallard..? The statistic I heard for mallard was at least 45 other species of 7 different genera.

Probably more to do with opportunity than physiology -- it must be in good numbers in or near almost every wildfowl collection, and the drakes are not known for holding back.

Richard

 

[Andrew]

Tim, it was feathering around the eyes that was white.

The undertail coverts seemed slightly different than the other female Wigeon which were more consistently the same. Lost all the pictures due to a dodgy CF card so can't get at them. The markings were much duller and grey but not structurally different at all.

 

[Brian Stretch]

I appreciate this thread is over 9 years old but thought it was worth posting here as a Wigeon with a similar white eye ring was present at Grimley in Worcestershire today.

Due to the distance it was difficult to be sure whether the white is feathering or not but it was certainly a distinctive bird and in all other respects, typical for female Eurasian Wigeon.

Brian
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[Stephen Dunstan]

I appreciate this thread is over 9 years old

Not sure I appreciate being reminded of lame jokes after nearly a decade...