I stopped at Greenbelt Lake today at lunch to see if any unusual ducks were
around, particularly the reported female Eurasian Wigeon. I found five
Wigeons, but all of the American variety - three males and two typical
American females which showed gray heads, contrasting with much warmer
bodies.

The biggest highlight was the continuing female Redhead - not a common bird
for the lake. I've only seen a handful in the five years (albeit less often
recently) of birding this location.

Other waterfowl present:

Hooded Merganser - 15
Mallard - 35+
Canada Goose - 100
Ring-necked Duck - 35
Lesser Scaup - 2 - pair
Pied-billed Grebe - 2

Rob Ostrowski
Crofton, MD


On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 1:33 AM, Jeff Shenot <> wrote:

> I looked for the reported female Eurasian wigeon also, and saw four
> birders there today also looking for it (3 separate groups).  All birders
> expressed that it appeared to not be present, and all noted the 3 American
> wigeon.  I wrote off the 3 wigeons as Americans, with preliminary looks via
> bins.  I'm skeptical about my ability to identify female Eurasians, but
> wish I had studied more before I left.  After the others left I looked
> again at the wigeons more carefully, using my scope.  They never lifted any
> wings so all I had was views of them swimming or resting.  I took a few
> digiscope pics with my phone, and when I got home and studied them more
> carefully, one of the females is puzzling, and in a couple of the photos it
> appears she may be a Eurasian.  I am unsure and wonder if one of the birds
> I saw was the same as what Eric saw.
>
> I don't know him or doubt the report.  Since there was obvious interest in
> other birders trying to see it today, perhaps the reporter (Eric) could
> provide more details about how they identified the bird, and if there were
> other wigeons, etc.  Did anyone else get any photos?
>
> I had a nice consolation prize.  I saw a female diver with the Ring-necks
> which was an odd color (warm brown head but wrong somehow).  After a
> careful look in the scope I realized it was a female Redhead(!) and I got a
> couple digiscope phone pics.  Also of note, one of the birders said they
> saw a Canvasback, but I could not locate it.
>
> Cheers-
> Jeff Shenot
> Croom MD
>
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