Silbón Europeo

Los machos reproductivos son hermosos y distintivos, con la cabeza de color pardo rojizo intenso, la frente leonada, el cuerpo gris perlado y el pecho rosado. Busca grandes parches blancos en las alas en vuelo. Las hembras son de un pardo cálido más sencillo en general, con un pico pequeño y pálido. Muy difícil de distinguir de la hembra del Silbón Americano; nótese la cabeza parda más cálida en el euroasiático con poco contraste entre la cabeza, el pecho y los flancos. También busca las partes inferiores de las alas grisáceas sucias, no blanco brillante, en vuelo, pero esto puede ser difícil de juzgar, especialmente a distancia. Ampliamente distribuido y común en Eurasia, se reproduce en latitudes septentrionales e inverna hacia el sur hasta África central y el sudeste asiático. Típicamente en bandadas en lagos y humedales, a menudo pastando en campos cercanos. Visitante invernal regular en América del Norte, especialmente en la costa oeste, usualmente en números muy pequeños entre bandadas de Silbón Americano.

Identificación

This dabbling duck is 42–52 cm (17–20 in) long with a 71–80 cm (28–31 in) wingspan, and a weight of 500–1,073 g (1.102–2.366 lb). The breeding male has grey flanks and back, with a black rear end, a dark green speculum and a brilliant white patch on upper wings, obvious in flight or at rest. It has a pink breast, white belly, and a chestnut head with a creamy crown. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female. The female is light brown, with plumage much like a female American wigeon. It can be distinguished from most other ducks, apart from American wigeon, on shape. However, that species has a paler head and white axillaries on its underwing. The female can be a rufous morph with a redder head, and a gray morph with a more gray head.

Taxonomía

The Eurasian wigeon was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas penelope. Anas is the Latin word for "duck", and penelope refers to a duck that was supposed to have rescued Penelope when she was thrown into the sea. Her name derives from Ancient Greek πήνη pene, "braid" and ὤψ ops "appearance", from the ruse she used to deter suitors while her husband Ulysses was absent.

Nombre científico

Mareca penelope

Autoridad

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Orden

Anseriformes

Familia

Anátidos

Género

Mareca

Distribución y hábitat

It breeds in the northernmost areas of Europe and the Palearctic. It is the Old World counterpart of North America's American wigeon. It is strongly migratory and winters further south than its breeding range. It migrates to southern Asia and Africa. In Great Britain and Ireland, the Eurasian wigeon is common as a winter visitor, but scarce as a breeding bird in Scotland, the Lake District, the Pennines and occasionally further south, with only a handful of breeding pairs in Ireland. It can be found as an uncommon winter visitor in the United States on the mid-Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It is a rare visitor to the rest of the United States except for the Four Corners and the southern Appalachians.

Área de cría

PAL : n Eurasia

Área no reproductiva

AF and n OR

Migración

Complete migrants