Bird Calls Bird of the Day for Friday, Aug. 19

Happy Friday, everyone. The Bird of the Day is the American wigeon. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun a bit with this bird, but I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of our duck migrants.

The wigeon is one of the first ducks to pass through southern New England in the fall. As you can see from the above photo, when the leaves turn colors, some of ducks are already arrived. The voice of the wigeon, to me anyway, sounds like that cartoon dog from the 1970s Mumbly.

Wigeons are handsome ducks with the males having a green stripe starting at their eye and sweeping its way down the head. Females are more dully colored. Check flocks of wigeon carefully for any stray Eurasian wigeon, which has rust-colored head with cream-colored strip on top.

Not to rush summer, but it won’t be long until our ducks have returned in force. I’ll be waiting for them.

Be sure to check out Bird Calls every Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. on WSTC/WNLK AM1400/1350 (in S. CT and nearby NY) or www.wstcwnlk.com from anywhere in the world (where there’s Internet access, that is.) Thanks for checking in.