~Photos of the American Wigeon taken at Canoa Ranch near Green Valley AZ – January 2023

The drake’s are commonly called “baldpates” because of the white on their crown and forehead.

The American wigeon is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some taller vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing, which it does very readily.

While on the water, wigeons (dabblers) often gather with feeding coots, redheads,  canvasbacks and other divers, and are known to grab pieces of vegetation brought to the surface by diving water birds, so are sometimes called “poacher” or “robber” ducks. They are fond of wild celery, a deepwater plant, that they poach from divers.

American wigeons are serially monogamous; they form pairs that remain together during a single breeding season and after the second week of incubation, males usually leave to molt. They nest on dry land.

Wigeons also commonly feed on dry land, eating waste grain in harvested fields and grazing on pasture grasses, winter wheat, clover, and lettuce.

Having a largely vegetarian diet, most wigeons migrate in the fall well before northern marshes begin to freeze. The American wigeon is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and forms large flocks.

So, if you are out and about near open fields, ponds and marshes look for this beautiful duck with the white forehead and  bright green on the side of their face.