American Wigeon Identification

Male

A compact duck with a short, pale bill and a round head. Breeding males have a brownish gray head with a wide green stripe behind the eye and a white cap.

Female

Females have a warm brown body with a brownish gray head and a dark smudge around the eye. Note the pale bill tipped in black.

Female

Dips bill in water to pick up aquatic plants and insects from the surface or tips up to pluck submerged vegetation.

Adult male

In flight males show a prominent white patch on the upperwing, green secondaries, and white under the wing.

Eclipse male

Nonbreeding males have a reddish brown body with a brownish gray head and a dark smudge around the eye. The prominent white patch in the wing and green secondaries may not always be visible.

Breeding male and female

Eats primarily vegetation such as duckweed, pond weed, water milfoil, and wigeon grass during the nonbreeding season.

Female/immature

Male

In some lights the green head stripe can look bronzy.

Male and female

Uses its short gooselike bill to pluck vegetation and seeds from fields and pastures.

Male

A small number of males have white on the cheeks and throat, which hunters often refer to as a "storm wigeon."

Male and female

Breeding male and female

Pairs form on the wintering ground and stay together throughout most of incubation.

Flock

Often occurs in flocks during the nonbreeding season. Found in a wide variety of wetland habitats including lakes, wetlands, and flooded farm fields.