The northern pintail is the next fowl up for birdsofnewengland’s Duck Week, a very unofficial declaration made by me because I have a lot of recent duck photos that need to be shared. Pintail drakes are one of the most handsome ducks we have in New England. If you missed the first Duck Week post, click here to meet the hooded merganser.
For more information about the northern pintail, click here.
I posted one American wigeon photograph last month to accompany my Christmas Bird Count article. Here are a few more shots of this interesting duck.
Here is the description of the American wigeon by AllAboutBirds.com, a website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Quiet lakes and wetlands come alive with the breezy whistle of the American Wigeon, a dabbling duck with pizzazz. Breeding males have a green eye patch and a conspicuous white crown, earning them the nickname “baldpate.” Females are brushed in warm browns with a gray-brown head and a smudge around the eye. Noisy groups congregate during fall and winter, plucking plants with their short gooselike bill from wetlands and fields or nibbling plants from the water’s surface. Despite being common their populations are declining.” Click here for further information.
Here’s a short video of a Eurasian Wigeon I saw at the Mill Pond in East Norwalk, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013.
Eurasian Wigeon, as the name suggests, are not native to the U.S., but they occasionally show up in flocks of American Wigeon, as was the case here.
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