Mareca americana
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The American wigeon (Mareca americana), also known as the baldpate, is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. Formerly assigned to Anas, this species is classified with the other wigeons in the dabbling duck genus Mareca. It is the New World counterpart of the Eurasian wigeon.
The American wigeon was formally described in 1789 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks, geese, and swans in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas americana. Gmelin based his description on Edme-Louis Daubenton's hand-colour plate of "Le Canard Jensen, de la Louisiane" and Thomas Pennant's description of the "American wigeon" in his Arctic Zoology. Pennant had been sent a specimen from New York. The American wigeon is now placed with the Eurasian wigeon and three other dabbling ducks in the genus Mareca that was introduced in 1824 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens. The name of the genus comes from the Portuguese word Marréco for a small duck. The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
An alternative common name is... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Dallas Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Beacon Hill Children's Farm | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report an American Wigeon sighting in Ciudad Juárez on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 18th most-seen of the 70 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report an American Wigeon in Ciudad Juárez on a given day, against about 20% in May, September and November, the lowest months. That is one of Ciudad Juárez's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 50 mm in July.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most American Wigeon sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 38
Of the 38 cities where we can rate American Wigeon sightings, Ciudad Juárez ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Anchorage (United States, about 60%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the American Wigeon is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciudad Juárez (42 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
