A whistling Wigeon
Children are taught that the noise that ducks make is "quack". But it is mainly Mallards that quack, and other ducks have their own characteristic voices. Wigeon whistle, and I managed to capture this one actually making its whistling "wheeeooo". You can have a listen here on the excellent Xeno-canto and recorded by a friend of mine Andrew Harrop: www.xeno-canto.org/522068 . Believe it or not the name Wigeon derives onomatopoeically from its whistling call originally from Latin, via Old French. The name was first recorded in Britain in 1513 (wegyons). In 1667 Christopher Merrett added a d and called it Widgeon, but one year later John Ray dropped the d and called it "Wigeon or Whewer". Though I still occasionally see it spelled with a d, often in newspapers.
Its scientific name has changed recently from Anas penelope to Mareca penelope. Mareca is a Brazilian Portuguese name for the Brazilian Teal but the name was used when DNA studies necessitated creating some new duck genera. Penelops is Greek for a type of duck with purple stripes (?) that rescued Penelope and fed her after she was cast into the sea by her parents.
Wigeon are quite scarce breeding birds (3-500 pairs), being largely confined to the uplands of England and Scotland, but in winter around half a million arrive from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. These birds escape the freezing conditions on their breeding grounds to enjoy the mild(!) winters we have in Britain. I photographed this male at Horbury in West Yorkshire this week.
A whistling Wigeon
Children are taught that the noise that ducks make is "quack". But it is mainly Mallards that quack, and other ducks have their own characteristic voices. Wigeon whistle, and I managed to capture this one actually making its whistling "wheeeooo". You can have a listen here on the excellent Xeno-canto and recorded by a friend of mine Andrew Harrop: www.xeno-canto.org/522068 . Believe it or not the name Wigeon derives onomatopoeically from its whistling call originally from Latin, via Old French. The name was first recorded in Britain in 1513 (wegyons). In 1667 Christopher Merrett added a d and called it Widgeon, but one year later John Ray dropped the d and called it "Wigeon or Whewer". Though I still occasionally see it spelled with a d, often in newspapers.
Its scientific name has changed recently from Anas penelope to Mareca penelope. Mareca is a Brazilian Portuguese name for the Brazilian Teal but the name was used when DNA studies necessitated creating some new duck genera. Penelops is Greek for a type of duck with purple stripes (?) that rescued Penelope and fed her after she was cast into the sea by her parents.
Wigeon are quite scarce breeding birds (3-500 pairs), being largely confined to the uplands of England and Scotland, but in winter around half a million arrive from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. These birds escape the freezing conditions on their breeding grounds to enjoy the mild(!) winters we have in Britain. I photographed this male at Horbury in West Yorkshire this week.