Fwd: storm wigeon

[Joe Roller]

I am forwarding this from Mr. Silverstein, who sent this message and photo to the RBA.

Joe Roller, Denver

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Silverstein <msil...@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 8:34 AM
Subject: storm wigeon
To: r...@cfobirds.org

Joyce:

 

On Saturday 3/29 I took this photo at Bluff Lake in Denver.    I sent it to the ID forum on whatbird.com to ask what it was that I had photographed, and I was told it’s a rare storm wigeon.  Fran Haas said I should forward this to you.

 

--Mark Silverstein

 

[Joe Roller]

Thanks to Mark Silverstein who sent this nice photo of a Storm Wigeon to the RBA, which I tried to forward to Cobirds.

If the photo does not show up in this thread, I will forward it to those who request it.

Comment:

This is a nice example of a "Storm" Wigeon, not shown in most field guides, but known to some birders, 

hunters and taxidemists. This form shows a pale or "bald' head, not just the" pate" and is a genetic variant,

not a hybrid. The head is pale except for the usual bold green blaze from the eye to the back of the head.

For more details, look up "storm wigeon" on line. There are nice comparisons of a normal plumage Am Wigeon

next to the Storm Wigeon variant at the link "Greg in San Diego."  The Denver Museum of Natural History two American Wigeons,

(Storm Wigeon variant plumage) in its collection, where they are on display in a glass case on the 3rd floor.

The origin of the name "Storm" Wigeon is hotly debated. Most authorities agree that the name derives from 

its association with "Storm's Taxidermy Shop" in Walla Walla Washington, where Sam Storm and his wife, 

Wendy, had this American Wigeon color variant on display in the window of their shop. In fact other hunters who were lucky enough

to plink similar individuals soon began to take them to be mounted there, and it became quite an impressive display, with multiple

similar birds. The local name became "Storm's Wigeon,"

and then shortened to its present day form, Storm Wigeon. The Latin name would be "Anas Americana thunerstormei."

This color variant seems to pass through Washington State in early April, often as early as the first day of April.

[Joe Roller]

Please read the above, which may exonerate me from a spanking, or may double the punishment.

joe

[William H Kaempfer]

Joe,

 

I recall seeing one of these with you at Upper Latham.

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder

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