Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was nearly dark, a rather dim sunset over Pushaw Lake. Our neighbor knocked a second time and answered our summons by bursting in breathlessly. There is a strange duck in the water! Could it possibly be a Eurasian wigeon?
Of course not. I’ve lived on the north end of Pushaw Lake in Hudson for a long time. I’ve never seen an American wigeon anywhere on this lake, let alone a Eurasian, a rare visitor from the Old World. Still, he described the bird as looking wigeon-like but with a rusty head, and he had a distant cellphone photo to back him up. We scurried down to where it was last seen, about four houses away, only to discover that the three suspect ducks were directly in front of my house. We scurried back. Clearly they were wigeons, and that trailing bird looked odd.
I rushed inside to get my spotting scope. Thus armed, we were able to get good looks in the gathering darkness. There was a male American wigeon, a female American wigeon and — jumping Jehoshaphat — a male Eurasian wigeon! This is a duck so rare that it is seen less often than Donald Trump’s humility.
I’ve observed maybe five in my lifetime and only one in Maine. But here was No. 2 swimming right next to my dock. Appearances occur annually in this state, and it happens sufficiently often that the Maine Bird Records Committee does not list it as “rare,” but I was so surprised I nearly spilled my wine.
Eurasian wigeons are common and widespread throughout the Old World, and they pop up all across North America from time to time. It happens sufficiently often that we might suspect a few nest somewhere in northern Canada, but no evidence has ever been found. The nearest breeding population is in Iceland. Wanderers on the west coast are likely coming from Siberia.
All hunters are familiar with the American wigeon. It is an abundant waterfowl, nesting mostly in the northwestern part of the continent. I expect a few breed over this way, since I’ve seen them in June at Pittston Farm above Moosehead Lake, and I always find a small population on Grand Manan through summer. Still, Maine sees them mostly during migration.
American wigeons are gregarious, and if a Eurasian turns up, it often will join the company of its New World cousins. That makes them easy to compare. Both are similar in size, smaller than a mallard. Males sport a cap on the forehead, leading hunters to nickname them baldpates. The cap is white on an American wigeon, buffy on a Eurasian. American males have green coloration on the head, especially around the eye. The head of a Eurasian male is reddish, leading to a pinkish neck and upper chest.
Duck watching in late April is a good way to kill time between the departure of winter birds and the arrival of summer birds. Marshes are full of open water, without the reedy vegetation that will later obscure views. Meanwhile, waterfowl bound for Canada are in no big hurry. They can’t do much until the ice melts up there anyway, so they’re a bit lazy this time of year, and they often gather in small groups. Hooded mergansers are my favorite ducks, and they definitely like each other’s company. There’s a lot of competition for females, so the hoods on those male hooded mergansers are on display more in April than any other time of year.
Sea ducks that wintered over on Maine’s ocean also have started moving northward along freshwater corridors, hopscotching between open rivers and ice-free ponds. Buffleheads are particularly likely in freshwater stopovers, but scoters, eiders, long-tailed ducks and red-breasted mergansers can show up on lakes in late April. Some flocks follow the Penobscot River as if it were a superhighway — which it is, sort of. From high overhead, ducks can see and follow a corridor of rivers and lakes all the way up to Hudson Bay.
So I repeat my semiannual warning: Anything can happen in migration season. Be prepared for the unexpected. Birds wander. A few weeks ago, a tufted duck was spotted on Unity Pond. That’s another Eurasian bird. More recently, a western grebe has been hanging around Maquoit Bay in Brunswick. The range of this bird barely reaches across the Mississippi. And now the range of the Eurasian wigeon reaches all the way to my house.
Bob Duchesne serves as vice president of Maine Audubon’s Penobscot Valley Chapter. He developed the Maine Birding Trail, with information at mainebirdingtrail.com. He can be reached at duchesne@midmaine.com.