Ontbirds subscribers,
As a follow-up to the posts by Frank Pinilla and Jeff Skevington about the
three male Eurasian Wigeons at Cranberry Marsh, yesterday afternoon while I was
watching these three birds, I noted that one of these males appeared to be
courting a female wigeon. I watched this for about half an hour from the north
platform on the west side of the marsh before deciding to head over to the east
side of the marsh where I could hopefully obtain closer looks.
>From the east side of the marsh, the wigeons were much closer and eventually
>the female wigeon that had drawn my interest went over to a small island and
>walked up on it to rest. Shortly thereafter, it began preening, affording me
>good views of both the spread upper and under sides of the wing. This bird had
>a fairly plain back with very little internal markings on the feathers, a
>grayish breast and the tertials had thin, light rufous edges. While the bird
>was stretching and preening the wing it was evident that the axillary feathers
>and central underwing coverts were a smoky gray colour rather than a striking
>and contrasting white, as expected in American Wigeon females. The upper wing
>also lacked any prominent white central bar across the ends of the greater
>secondary coverts above the speculum. Later, when the bird re-entered the
>water and reached its closest approach of about 30 metres, I was able to note
>that its blue-gray bill lacked any black border at all at the proximal portion
>of the gape. It also had a fairly tan coloured cast to the head and a very
>reduced amount of duskiness to the plumage around the eye. I am pretty
>confident that this bird is another Eurasian Wigeon, making a total of four
>present at Cranberry Marsh.
Directions:
Cranberry Marsh is at the foot of Hall's Road S, south of Victoria St. W., just
350 metres east of Lakeridge Rd (Regional Rd 23). There are parking areas at
both of the entrances to the north and south platforms on the west side of the
marsh. The birds are best viewed from the north platform. To view the birds
from the east side of the marsh, one must park at the parking lot of Lynde
Shores Conservation Area (further east on the south side of Victoria St.) and
walk all the way down to the marsh.
Glenn Coady
Whitby, Ontario
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