Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Shoveler

Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Shoveler, Leathes Ham, Lowestoft (Suffolk, UK) , 25th December 2012 - copyright Andrew Easton

(photo ID: 2036)

Some of us wondered whether the Wigeon parent of this hybrid could have been Chiloe Wigeon but it seems that it fits Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Shoveler ok.  Joern Lehmhus commented as follows:

"The head pattern is typical for Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Shoveler.  I have seen this on 4 birds from the Netherlands (all in the wild but at least 2 probably escapes) and 4 captive birds from France said to have this parentage.  Here is a link to one of the Netherlands birds, feeding with eurasian Wigeon: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUVBBmx7zYU.

In general hybrids of this combination I have seen so far have at least a small pale area at the base of the bill.  In some birds it was considerably larger and along the side of the bill but sometimes the pale area is absent or extremly small, so that the bird appears to have an all black bill.  This one appears similar to [Andrew's] in that respect, for example: waarneming.nl/foto/view/622526."

Eurasian Wigeon x Northern Shoveler (same bird as in photo ID 2036 above; with Northern Shoveler), Leathes Ham, Lowestoft (Suffolk, UK) , 25th December 2012 - copyright Andrew Easton

(photo ID: 2037)

Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
Chiloe Wigeon Anas sibilatrix
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata