{"id":111487,"date":"2023-03-23T03:11:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T09:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=111487"},"modified":"2023-03-23T03:14:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T09:14:14","slug":"american-wigeon-on-the-last-day-of-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/23\/american-wigeon-on-the-last-day-of-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"American Wigeon On The Last Day Of Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

I photographed an American Wigeon drake on the last day of winter at my local pond. The light was nice and lovely but my view of the wigeon was even nicer.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Wigeon drake on the last day of winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This drake wigeon is in his fine breeding plumage. The green iridescent stripe behind he is stood out like a beacon in the morning light. I’m not a female wigeon but if I were that green might have made my heart go pitter-patter.\u00a0 This drake already seems to be paired up with a lovely hen that was swimming in the water nearby.<\/p>\n

It isn’t likely that the pair of American Wigeons<\/span><\/a> will nest on this pond. The pond is small and there is a lot of human foot traffic. It would surprise me if they stick around for too much longer.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Wigeon drake in morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 1000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As the drake wigeon swam around on the last day of winter I was able to photograph him in several different areas of the pond. In this photo the reflections of shrubs on the side of the pond gave the water a brownish-gold hue. The green on the drake’s head stood out seemed to glow against the darker water.<\/p>\n

I’m still seeing spats on the bills of the wigeons<\/span><\/a> that I wrote about the last time I shared photos of this species. My pareidolia seems to have hit high gear about 10 years ago and it won’t stop!<\/p>\n

What is pareidolia?<\/h2>\n

From Wikipedia: Pareidolia is a type of apophenia involving the perception of images or sounds in random stimuli. A common example is the perception of a face within an inanimate object\u2014the headlights and grill of an automobile may appear to be “grinning”. People around the world see the “Man in the Moon”.<\/p>\n

Me? I see spats on the faces of this species. I also see stylized wolves on the bills of Mallards. I see things in things.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my American Wigeon photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I photographed an American Wigeon drake on the last day of winter at my local pond. The light was nice and lovely but my view of the wigeon was even nicer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6312,27,522,26],"tags":[4004,6313,4717,4483,1129,126,4062,6314,4099,12561,10698,1984,8018,3996,2063,6315,6316,373],"class_list":["post-111487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-wigeons","category-avian","category-salt-lake-valley","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-wigeon","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-male","tag-mareca-americana","tag-morning-light","tag-pareidolia","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wigeon","tag-wigeons","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t