Eurasian Wigeon

I found a female Eurasian Wigeon among a flock of American Wigeons at Westmoreland Park in Portland today. A male and female pair spent a large portion of the winter there last year.
Based on my National Geographic field guide, this is a rufous morph as gray morph females closely resemble American Wigeon females. My Sibley guide does not mention the rufous morph.
As the name implies, Eurasian Wigeons are native to both Europe and Asia, but it is not unusual for it to migrate down both coasts of North American, typically accompanying American Wigeons.

Eurasian Wigeon

I visited TRNWR for the first time this year. The water levels have risen, but the birds were scarce. Very few passeriformes, water fowl numbers were down, but the Western Screech-Owl was at its perch.
The refuge has cleaned up most of the mess created by the fallen tree on the lookout platform at the end of the trail. As water levels creep up, the water fowl viewing is closer. Today I saw three male Eurasian Wigeons with a single female from the platform.

Ducks in Flight - Northern Pintail, American & Eurasian Wigeon

On Dec. 18th I was watching the ducks in the main pond off the overlook of the visitor center at TRNWR when a Bald Eagle swooped in and flushed many of the ducks. I took a few pictures of the ducks in flight and got this one of some Northern Pintails, American Wigeons and a Eurasian Wigeon. I thought it was an interesting mix in one picture.

Eurasian Wigeon

I'm on vacation this week, so I thought I'd get some birding in this morning before the bad weather settles in. I went to Hayden Island for the first time to see if I could see the White-winged Scoters that had been reported. I found them, but they weren't very close to shore, so my pictures didn't turn out very well. Same goes for the Surf Scoters, Western Grebes, Lesser Scaups and a Common Loon.

I then decided to go to Westmoreland Park for the first time. Fellow blogger Jen had seen some Eurasian Wigeons there about a week ago and since my only sighting was from quite a distance I thought I'd try my luck. My luck turned out good as I found a male and female pair among many American Wigeons. They are a very pretty birds.

Eurasian Wigeon

Another case of not knowing what I had until I got the images on my computer. I knew this duck looked different, but it was quite a distance from me, so I couldn't identify it. Actually, had I been much closer I still wouldn't have know what it was, but at least I would have known for sure that it was a new bird for me.
I saw these yesterday at TRNWR on the main pond near the visitor center. I've been checking the water levels from the visitor center overlook recently since they raised the drains. A small amount of water has collected in the deepest areas and ducks are starting to frequent it. It's mostly been Northern Pintails, a few American Wigeons and Mallards.
The duck on the left is definitely a Eurasian Wigeon. I'm not sure about the one on the right. I thought it was a female, but it has a rather large patch across its eye. It may be a pale male American Wigeon. Whatever the case, they were swimming together.
There is a little more green around the left duck's eye than both Sibley and Cornell show, for a Eurasian but not nearly as much as Sibley illustrates for a Eurasian x American Wigeon hybrid. A search on the web returns many pictures of Eurasian Wigeon with at least the amount of green that this one has. So it may be a pure bred.