Eurasian wigeon Anas penelope

Identification Tips:

• Large dabbling duck
• Blue bill with black nail
• White secondary coverts (grayer in females) and green speculum
• Gray axillars
• White belly
• Juvenile similar to adult female

Adult male alternate:

• Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
• Yellowish crown
• Rufous head
• Rusty breast
• Pale gray back and flanks
• White patch at rear portion of flanks
• Black undertail coverts

Adult female:

• Blue bill with black tip
• Mottled dark brown body plumage with rustier flanks contrasting with paler head and neck
• Dusky eye patch

Similar species:

Adult male in alternate plumage is unmistakable. All plumages distinguished from all other dabbling ducks (except American Wigeon) by pale gray or white secondary coverts in flight. At rest Wigeon have a distinctive steep forehead and gently sloped rear part of the head, as well as pale blue bills. The American Wigeon is similar to the rarer Eurasian Wigeon in the female plumage and is safely distinguished only in flight by its white, not gray, axillars, and sometimes by the contrast between head and back plumage.