Mareca penelope
A whistling duck with a golden forehead stripe.
Size: 45-51 cm | Habitat: Pond, Lake & River Birds | Season: Winter visitor (Oct-Mar)
A dumpy, short-billed duck, the male wigeon has a chestnut head with a bold cream-yellow stripe running from bill to crown, a pinkish breast, and grey body. Females are warm brown and rounder-headed than a mallard.
Male: chestnut head, cream forehead stripe, pink breast, grey body · Female: warm brown, round head, short grey-blue bill · often grazes in tight flocks
Unusually for a duck, wigeon graze on grass and waterside vegetation almost like small geese, often forming large flocks on flooded fields, reservoirs, and estuaries in winter. Males give a distinctive, far-carrying whistled 'wheeoo'.
A flock of whistling wigeon on a winter's evening is one of the most atmospheric sounds of the British countryside — you'll often hear them before you see them.
The Wigeon (Mareca penelope) is a dumpy, short-billed duck named for its distinctive, far-carrying whistled call. Males have a chestnut head with a cream forehead stripe and a pink-flushed breast, while females are warm brown with a notably round head.
Unusually among ducks, wigeon feed largely by grazing on grass, saltmarsh plants, and eelgrass, giving them a more goose-like feeding style than most waterfowl, often seen in large flocks on flooded fields, estuaries, and reservoirs. The UK's wintering population, boosted by birds from Iceland and Russia, is of major international importance.
Understanding the wigeon highlights the surprising diversity of feeding strategies among British ducks, and the importance of UK wetlands and coastal grasslands as wintering grounds for birds that breed thousands of miles to the north.
🟠 Conservation status: Amber (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Amber-listed. Wigeon breed in only small numbers in the UK, mainly in northern Scotland, making the population here nationally scarce and localised even though vast numbers arrive to winter from Iceland and Russia. The UK's estuaries and wetlands hold internationally important numbers of wintering birds, making their protection a conservation priority.