Here are some photos of an interesting wigeon from the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge New York on 13-14 October 2001. The bird is tentatively identified as a eclipse male Eurasian Wigeon. Three other male Eurasian Wigeon were nearby for comparison (Fig. 7), these seemed much further along in terms of molt.

Fig. 1.  Mystery wigeon. Photo copyright of Andrew Guthrie.

Fig. 2.  Mystery wigeon. Photo copyright of Andrew Guthrie.

Fig. 3. Mystery wigeon with American Wigeon. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Fig. 4. Mystery wigeon with American Wigeon. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Fig. 5. Mystery wigeon. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Fig. 6. American Wigeon. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Fig. 7. More typical male Eurasian Wigeon photographed on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay on 14 Oct 2001. Note the appearance of gray mantle and flank feathers. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Fig. 8. Female and two male Eurasian Wigeon photographed in Japan in early January. Photo copyright of Angus Wilson.

Photography: These photos were taken with a digital camera/telescope combination: AW [Kowa TSN-4 scope (at 20X) and Nikon Coolpix 880] and AG [ Pentax 80 and Nikon Coolpix 995]. Images were cropped and sharpened slightly using Adobe Photoshop 5.0.