Monday February 20th - Eurasian Wigeon

 

Monday February 20th – Eurasian Wigeon

          Over President’s weekend we drove to the Poconos in eastern Pennsylvania for a ski weekend with our kids (although Mike and I didn’t actually ski).  On the way there, we made one stop at Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve to try and find a Northern Saw-whet Owl.  This park is on the lakeshore near downtown Cleveland and has many large pine trees where Saw-whet Owls like to roost in the winter.  The Saw-whet is a small football sized owl and is usually well-hidden in the dense pine trees.  There have been multiple sightings here this winter but after several tries including today, we have been unsuccessful in locating one.

          After a great weekend, we left early Monday morning and made good time on our drive home.  Once we got back to Ohio, we decided to take a little detour to chase a Eurasian Wigeon which had been reported south of Wooster.  Of the 304 species we saw last year, this bird was not on our list, so we were anxious to see it.  This time we got lucky.  We arrived at the marshy roadside area and there were some Amish guys standing there looking at the Wigeon.  We got very nice scope views, but it was a little far away for a good photo.   

          The adult male Eurasian Wigeon has a Chestnut head with a buffy crown that contrasts with a mostly gray body.  It is a rare visitor to North America but is widespread and relatively common across the Old World.  It is typically found among flocks of its nearest relative, the American Wigeon.  The Eurasian Wigeons seen each year in eastern North America likely come from Iceland based on the banded birds that have been recovered. 

 At this same marshy area, we also found our FOY (first of the year) Green-winged Teal.

                                                     Eurasian Wigeon (male)

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