[birding] Albany wigeons etc today

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

After hauling our 10-yr-old over to Albany for a social engagement
today, I was curious to see if Eurasian Wigeons had shown up yet at
Grand Prairie Park. Usually they aren't recorded in our area until late
November or December, but I wondered if they show up sooner and just
takes that long for some to be noticed.

Grand Prairie Park seems to provide a good test of this hypothesis,
since it's the most reliable spot for Eurasian Wigeons in our area
(usually multiple birds each winter, and sometimes upward of a dozen).
When I checked today, I found about 80 AMERICAN WIGEONS but no clear-cut
Eurasians. 

It was a good exercise in the variability of wigeon plumage this time of
year. Quite a few of the males had buffy (rather than white) pates, and
some seemed to still be in transition from eclipse or immature plumage
to adult male plumage. The females were also rather variable, but I
couldn't pick out any clear Eurasian females.

The only gull present was a GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. There were more large
gulls (maybe a dozen) at Waverly Park but as usual, there was no good
place to pull over for a better look as I was driving by. Wish I'd been
bicycling ... that may come later in the winter.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis