American Wigeon
Mareca americana · Waterfowl
American Wigeon, male
San Diego, 6 March 2026
A drake American Wigeon on a San Diego pond in March, near the end of a winter spent on the ponds and flooded fields of the Southwest. Wigeon breed on the prairie potholes and the lakes of the Canadian north, and they graze more than most ducks, cropping grass on the bank as readily as weed from the water.
A white forehead and crown gave the species its old nickname of baldpate, and the iridescent green swath running back from the eye is the other quick mark on an otherwise softly patterned duck. They are also thieves: a wigeon will wait beside a diving coot and steal the weed it brings up rather than dive for its own.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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