Braden here again. The Fort Missoula Gravel Quarry is one of, if not the best, spot to bird in all of the city of Missoula. In the past six months or so, my dad and I have gone there at least four or five times, picking up a lifer every single time. The lifers haven’t been common, either—at least in Montana. Last fall we spotted White-throated Sparrow, Horned Grebe, and Long-tailed Duck, none of which were supposed to be here. I’ll save those stories for another time.
Can you find the Eurasian Wigeon in this photo of American Wigeons and pigeons?
As we headed out this morning, my dad confidently said, “I think we’ll get a lifer today.”
“Really?” I said. “Like what?”
“Eurasian Wigeon.”
“Huh. Aside from Ross’s Goose, which would be a lifer only for me, I guess that’s our best chance.”
On ebird there had been reports of many hundreds of American Wigeons at the quarry recently, but none of the experienced birders who had visited had reported a Eurasian. As we pulled up and exited the car, I began to set up the scope, which we still weren’t very experienced using. All of the ducks were on the close pond, thankfully, so we could view them pretty well through the scope.
Tons of wigeons floated on the pond and fed on the grass nearby with pigeons, flying back and forth randomly. We also spotted Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Mallards, Redheads, Canvasbacks and a Northern Shoveler.
I began searching for Barrow’s Goldeneye while my dad took a turn with the scope, turning it towards the feeding wigeons.
“I see something…with a red head. Not a Redhead. Could it be something cool?” he asked. My heart jumped.
“Yeah!” I said excitedly, “Lemme see!”
“Okay, its in the scope now.”
I looked through and saw the duck’s red head, yellow forehead and gray sides and back. There was no question as to what this was.
“Eurasian Wigeon! It’s a Eurasian Wigeon!”
I let my dad look again.
“That’s so cool! What did I tell you?” he said.
We watched the bird for a while, both feeding and swimming. I considered this a huge victory for us, not only getting a lifer, but finding a rare bird all on our own! We were moving up!
Even though it’s from a great distance, you can still clearly see the reddish head, gray body, and yellow crown—the field marks of a Eurasian Wigeon.