There’s been a bit of excitement in the local birding community this past week. An Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) was spotted at Pastorius Lake. There has been only one other reported sighting of the bird in this area in 2007. The image of the range map from my Sibley Birds app shows how rare it is to be seen in SW Colorado (white area).
On Friday, a request went out to the local birding community for photos to better document the bird. Apparently a rather large portion of birds present in the US hybridize with American Wigeons and photographic evidence was needed to help document that it was a pure Eurasian Wigeon and not a hybirid.
My photos are the best ones taken so far of the bird and will be used to help confirm the sighting to the Colorado Bird Records Committee.
Equipment used: Canon EOS 70D camera (1.6x crop factor), Canon 500mm/f-4 lens, Canon 1.4x III extender, Gitzo Mountaineer tripod, Arca Swiss ball head, 4th Generation gimbal mount.
Adventures, Animals and Images 
Wonderful and exciting sighting in your area! It’s always such a gift when a bird takes a wrong turn and spends a bit of time in an unexpected area.
Is that what the request was for? I didn’t connect it the Eurasian Wigeon! I suppose I need to get better at scientific names not just the common names.
I have images of those. 🙂 They aren’t as common as theAmerican, but they usually show up here. In fact they’re being reported daily in a few spots lately, and I made a couple of images of a pair in Sacramento Valley this season.
Your images are lovely and should be great for helping to verify the identity of the duck/bird.
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It was my oversight to not include the scientific name – which I have now corrected.
Yes, the photo request was for that specific bird being seen in our area. From the map one can see that these birds Winter along the NW coast of the US and Canada. It stands to reason that they are more likely to show up in your area.
The bird was a long distance away and hanging out in an area that was not accessible without spooking the large flock of waterbirds the EUWI was with. All images were cropped at 100%.
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I just double checked my images of the wigeon I photographed in Jan. this year. The pair are American Wigeons. I have seen and photographed the EW in past years.
Your images should be very helpful.
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