2024 Great Backyard Bird Count Day 1

Hi everyone! It’s time for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! This annual event takes place this weekend from February 16-19. It’s easy to participate, so check out https://www.birdcount.org/ to join the fun!

Today Dave, Baby Birder, and I made our way out to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge for the first day of the count. It was a fairly chilly and windy morning. As expected there was waterfowl galore and lots of gulls. We observed 27 species. Highlights included a Northern Harrier, two Bald Eagles, and a large amount of Gadwalls.

Gull Pond

Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (27 species, 2098 individuals)

• 450 Snow Geese
• 70 Brant
• 255 Canada Geese
• 9 Tundra Swans
• 200 Northern Shovelers
• 160 Gadwall
• 24 Mallards
• 150 American Black Ducks
• 60 Northern Pintails
• 7 Green-winged Teals
• 35 Bufflehead
• 14 Hooded Mergansers
• 55 Ruddy Duck
• 470 Dunlin
• 8 Ring-billed Gulls
• 87 Herring Gulls
• 2 Double-crested Cormorants
• 2 Great Egrets
• 7 Great Blue Herons
• 9 Turkey Vultures
• 1 Northern Harrier
• 2 Bald Eagles
• 11 American Crows
• 1 Carolina Wren
• 3 Dark-eyed Juncos
• 1 Common Grackle
• 5 Yellow-rumped Warblers

Dunlin flock (Image by David Horowitz)

Hooded Merganser male (Image by David Horowitz)

We had an unexpected surprise on the wildlife drive today. Baby Birder, being well into toddlerhood now, isn’t super into birding. He likes birds just fine and is fairly familiar with ducks, geese, and eagles (my favorite was when he saw a Wild Turkey and called it a “duck-eagle” 😂). However, his true passion (obsession lol) is vehicles, so while he likes to see the birds his favorite part of visiting Forsythe is the other vehicles on the wildlife drive. And special for bird count weekend we had…a backhoe!

A GBBC first…a backhoe!

He was quite thrilled to see a backhoe laying gravel out on the road today, so we all had a lovely morning for GBBC Day 1. It’s supposed to snow 2-5 inches tonight into tomorrow so we’ll see what happens for Day 2.

Return to the Shore

We visited family in New Jersey for Memorial Day weekend. On May 28 Dave, BB (Baby Birder), and I spent the morning at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. It was a lovely morning with loads of shorebirds and seabirds. We observed 48 species and added 2 new birds to our life life: a Marbled Godwit and Bank Swallows. Here are some of the highlights:

Seabirds: Common Terns, Forster Terns, Least Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Black Skimmers, Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants

Forster’s Tern (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

Black Skimmers (Image by David Horowitz)

Shorebirds: Marbled Godwit, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied Plover, American Oystercatchers, Willets, Dunlin, White-rumped Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers

Ruddy Turnstone breeding adult (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

Other Highlights: A Clapper Rail running across the mudflats, 24 Osprey, Marsh Wrens, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, a horseshoe crab, and many Diamondback Terrapins

Diamondback Terrapin (Image by David Horowitz)

Diamondback Terrapins basking in the Sun (Image by David Horowitz)

Decade’s End

Hello friends! I’m here writing you at 8:50 pm on 12/31/19, the end of the year and the decade. I can’t believe 2020 is already upon us. 2019 was a very exciting birding year for us and 2020 is going to be just as, if not more, amazing! My New Year’s Resolution is to get back to blogging frequently again because to be honest, 2019 was a little rough to stay on task. At the end of June Dave and I moved from New Jersey to New Hampshire and its been quite an adventure. Here are BirdNation’s 2019 highlights.

Life List Birds (19 for me, 17 for Dave)

• Razorbill: 1/6 at Sandy Hook Beach, NJ (on our 1st wedding anniversary)
• Canvasback: 1/27 at Manasquan Reservoir IBA, NJ
• Pacific Loon: 2/3 at Manasquan Inlet, NJ

Pacific Loon (Image by David Horowitz)

• Pine Siskin: 2/10 at Cloverdale Farm County Park, Barnegat, NJ (Dave was not here for this lifer, it was a lifer for my mom and sister though)
• Red-breasted Nuthatch: 2/17 at Cloverdale Farm County Park, Barnegat, NJ

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Image by BirdNation)

• Northern Saw-whet Owl: 3/1 at undisclosed location

Northern Saw-whet Owl (Image by David Horowitz)

• Winter Wren: 3/1 at Palmyra Cove Nature Park, NJ
• American Woodcock: 3/13 at Rancocas Nature Center, Westampton, NJ
• Yellow-throated Warbler: 4/26 at Flag Ponds Nature Park, Lusby, MD
• Red-headed Woodpecker: 4/27 at Calvert Cliffs SP, Lusby, MD
• Prothonotary Warbler: 4/27 at Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, Prince Frederick, MD

Prothonotary Warbler (Image by David Horowitz)

• Scarlet Tanager: 5/8 at Maria B. Greenwald Park, Cherry Hill, NJ
• Eastern Meadowlark: 6/19 at Chincoteague NWR, VA

Eastern Meadowlark (Image by David Horowitz)

• Bobolink: 7/28 at Parker River NWR, Newbury, MA
• Common Nighthawk: 8/30 at Moores Crossing Railroad Bridge, Manchester, NH
• Nashville Warbler: 9/1 at Miller SP-Pack Monadnock, Peterborough, NH
• Black Guillemot: 11/10 at Odiorne SP, Rye, NH
• American Tree Sparrow: 12/15 at Concord, NH (Dave wasn’t there for this one either, I saw this in the Concord Christmas Bird Count)
• Virginia Rail: 12/26 at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR

My current life list total is 227.

Year List 2019

This is the 2nd year I kept a Year List. 2019’s total was 189, 14 more birds than 2018 (175). The Year List will continue into 2020.

Bird Counts

We participated in many bird counts this year:

• Great Backyard Bird Count: We counted at Amico Island , Haddon Lake Park, Palmyra Cove, Barnegat Lighthouse SP, Cloverdale Farm, and then Haddon Lake again (lol) to find 52 different species and over 1,500 individual birds
• Global Big Day (May 4): 55 species (11 of them warblers) between Rancocas Nature Center and Palmyra Cove
• 2019 Great American Arctic Birding Challenge (March 15-June 1): It was Team BirdNation’s 2nd year participating and we saw 56 species
• October Big Day (October 19): 20 species in Cape Cod, MA
• Concord Christmas Bird Count (December 15): I participated in the Concord CBC. Last year I did the Moorestown, NJ count with my friends from Rancocas, but I wanted to start getting involved in the New Hampshire birding community. I had a blast being on the team and we totaled 51 species at the time (not including a count we were waiting on from 1 person and count week birds).

Birding States

We went birding in 2 new states in 2019: New Hampshire (where we moved to) and Maine, bringing our total to 11 birding states. Other states we visited this year were Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Onward to 2020…

I’m so excited to start our birding adventures in 2020! There are some pretty cool opportunities coming up, so I will keep you posted on all our new expeditions (and I will catch you up on some of the events of the past few months.) Happy New Year! See you in 2020!

Life After 200

Hi friends! Hope you are all doing well.

I haven’t written since my 200th species post…but I have been outside everyday. I’m working at a nature camp this summer, so I’ve been doing plenty of hiking and learning an awful lot about nature that’s not bird-related. I’ve been having a blast (and am also exhausted  but in a good way, which is why I haven’t been writing lol). Shameless self promotion: I’ve also been posting on Instagram everyday @birdnation123, so if you haven’t followed us yet you should check it out! Sometimes I post pics there that are not featured on the blog, so don’t miss out on the fun 😉

Dave and I went birding twice this weekend to 3 different locations. Saturday we spent some time at Maria B. Greenwald Memorial Park for the first time in a few months. It was a fairly quiet evening: lots of cardinals, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American Robins, and a family of Canada Geese out on a stroll.

“You looking at me?”…young Canada Goose (Image by BirdNation)

A Family Evening Stroll (Image by BirdNation)

The pace of the evening sped up when we made it back to the parking area. The sun was starting to set and many small birds started zooming through the air. They were flying like swallows but had the wrong shape. They were our first Chimney Swifts! And they don’t call them swifts for nothing! They were so fast as they tried to catch insects that it was hard to get a good look at them. I managed to get a silhouette of a swift’s distinct scimitar-shaped wings.

Chimney Swift silhouette (Image by BirdNation)

Chimney Swifts can be found throughout the eastern half of the United States in cities and towns. They used to nest in trees, but are now found almost always nesting in…well you probably guessed it…chimneys. Here’s what one looks like when they aren’t swiftly flying past your binoculars.

(Image by Jayne Amico/Mount Vernon Songbird Sanctuary)

Sunday we made our way to one of our favorite birding spots, Barnegat Lighthouse SP. Highlights included Brown Pelicans, tons of gulls, Ruddy Turnstones, Osprey, and American Oystercatchers.

Great Black-backed Gull portrait (Image by BirdNation)

American Oystercatcher (Image by BirdNation)

Ruddy Turnstone (Image by BirdNation)

We did observe one Piping Plover. I’m guessing that the Piping Plover may be Pete and Phoebe’s offspring. The plover was not banded and its bill was mainly black. Adult Piping Plovers have orange bills with black tips, and this plover had much more black than orange.

Young Piping Plover (Image by BirdNation)

On our way off Long Beach Island, we stopped at a new birding location. Edwin B. Forsythe NWR has a new unit as of the end of June: Cedar Bonnet Island in Stafford Township. Over 20 acres of salt marsh are under restoration to provide a habitat for birds migrating along the coast. The one-mile trail opened recently, and there’s quite a lovely view of the marsh. We saw 29 species in our short visit, including Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Little Blue Heron, Song Sparrows, Glossy Ibis, and many Ospreys. By this point in our trip it was raining so I didn’t take my good camera out, but did capture this view of the salt marsh on my phone.

Cedar Bonnet Island (Image by BirdNation)

We definitely plan on stopping back to Cedar Bonnet Island on our next LBI trip. I’m happy to know more of New Jersey’s shoreline is being preserved to help our coastal flora and fauna.

 

 

 

 

 

My 200th Bird Species!

Today I observed my 200th life list species! The best part is that it was a species I definitely did not expect.

As of yesterday (6/30/18) I was at 198 species. Earlier this week, a co-worker at Rancocas Nature Center was telling me about a wading bird rookery (I’m not going to disclose the location). She started naming the different species nesting at this location.

“Black-crowned Night-Herons, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons…”

She had me at Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Dave and I have never seen Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, but have always wanted to. So of course we needed to go to this rookery asap.

We made our way down to the rookery early this morning. It was really a cool place. From the platform, you can look down into the nests, but you are also eye level with many of the birds. There were 5 nesting species: Little Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, Black-crowned Night-Herons, and Glossy Ibis.

What an amazing experience. We had a chance to see these wading bird’s young in different stages of development. Some were recently fledged (like some of the Glossy Ibis), some were still in the nest, and we even saw some eggs. It was really fascinating watching chicks get fed and parents switching off of nest duty. The longer we stood, more Glossy Ibis arrived.

Yeloow-crowned Night-Heron with chicks (Image by BirdNation)

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Image by BirdNation)

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Image by BirdNation)

Glossy Ibis immature (Image by BirdNation

Glossy Ibis adult and young (Image by BirdNation)

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron pair with eggs (Image by BirdNation)

So Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was #199. We still had one more stop for the day: Forsythe NWR (it was 94 degrees today, so we were definitely birding from the car!). I read the night before on NJ Rare Bird Alert that there was a Roseate Spoonbill being reported, so I was hoping it would still be around.

Once we entered Forsythe’s wildlife drive we quickly approached Wading Bird Paradise.  There were over 100 birds: Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Little Blue Heron juveniles and  Glossy Ibis; as well as terns and Laughing Gulls.

Wading Bird Paradise (Image by David Horowitz)

Dave spotted it in the distance, slightly away from the commotion. The Roseate Spoonbill!

Roseate Spoonbill (Image by David Horowitz)

It was so beautiful to see. I was in awe watching it preen and bask in the sun. The Roseate Spoonbill is special because as I wrote in my recent Spoonbill feature,  these birds live in Florida, along the Gulf Coast of the southern United States, in Mexico, and the Caribbean. As far as I know, this Spoonbill being currently observed at Forsythe is only the 5th or 6th sighing of a Roseate Spoonbill in New Jersey. I couldn’t believe that the Roseate Spoonbill was my 200th species!

Preening Spoonbill (Image by David Horowitz)

Spoonbill and Snow Egret (Image by David Horowitz)

I actually ended up getting 1 more life list bird today, bringing my current total to 201 species: a Saltmarsh Sparrow (sorry, no pic!). And I also got a picture of a really cute Eastern Box Turtle before we left 🙂 .

Baby Eastern Box Turtle (Image by BirdNation)

I’m so happy that I finally am in the 200s. Today will certainly be a birding day that I will not soon forget :-).

 

 

Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer!

Happy Summer Solstice!

I can’t believe summer is already here. This will be an interesting summer for me. I’m usually off for 10 weeks, but this year I have a summer job. Here’s a picture of my workplace:

I’m a nature summer camp intern at Rancocas Nature Center. I’m excited that I get to spend the next few weeks working outside and learning more about nature 😁.

Now that it’s a new season, I’ve been reflecting on my year list. Since winter (where we observed 81 species) I’ve added 71 species to the list, bringing my total to 152 species in 2018. We had a great spring migration this year. Here are some of the highlights.

• Team BirdNation participated in the 2018 Great American Arctic Birding Challenge from March 1-June 1. Overall we observed 62 species on the checklist.
• 60 species, including our first Caspian Tern, at Forsythe NWR during Global Big Day

Willet on Global Big Day (Image by BirdNation)

• Added 2 warblers to our life list: Northern Parula at Amico Island and Canada Warbler at Patuxent Research Refuge
• Took a “mini vacation” to Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland. Saw Pileated Woodpeckers for the first time in 3 years

Patuxent Research Refuge on a rainy day (Image by BirdNation)

• Red Knots for the first time ever at Fortescue Beach as well as thousands of other shorebirds and Laughing Gulls

Semipalmated Sandpipers (Image by BirdNation)

• Our first Wilson’s Snipe at Taylor’s Wildlife Preserve
• Met Pete and Phoebe, the resident pair of Piping Plovers at Barnegat Light SP

Pete McClain (Image by BirdNation)

Phoebe Cates (Image by BirdNation)

• Had an awesome trip to Forsythe with my friends Deborah and Bella, where we saw 51 bird species, some snakes, and tons of turtles

Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls (Image by BirdNation)

Spring migration was awesome this year. We got 5 life list species (Wilson’s Snipe, Red Knot, Canada Warbler, Northern Parula , and Caspian Tern), and went on lots of great birding trips.

Summer always ends up being a little slow due to the heat, but you never know what will show up. We are also heading to Cape Cod, Massachusetts in August, so that’s something to look forward to. Can’t wait to see what the summer will bring!

How was your spring migration this year? What birds did you see? Tell us about them in the comments! 

Also, don’t forget to join the flock on Instagram, @birdnation123

Forsythe Fun with Friends

I recently took a trip to Edwin B. Forsythe NWR with my friends Deborah and Bella. It was their first time visiting the refuge. Both Deborah and Bella have worked at nature centers, with Bella currently working in horticulture. I had such a blast spending the day with them, and learned a lot of new information from them about plants and snakes.

We started our trip taking a short walk around the visitor center and Lily Lake. A few birds around this area included Wood Ducks, Glossy Ibis, Gray Catbirds, House Finches, and Purple Martins, as well as tons of beautiful flowers/plants.

Beautiful Flowers (Image by BirdNation)

Lily Lake (Image by BirdNation)

Before entering the wildlife drive we spent some time at the Eco Leeds Boardwalk and Gull Pond. Highlights included fiddler crabs, Barn Swallows, Great Egrets, and Least Terns.

Barn Swallow (Image by BirdNation)

Fiddler Crabs (Image by BirdNation)

We even had a special surprise: snakes! I have never seen snakes at Forsythe before, so I’m glad I was able to see them with Deborah, “the snake lady” :-D.

Snake among the lilies (Image by BirdNation)

The wildlife drive was really active. Birds included Red-winged Blackbirds, American Crowns, Snowy Egrets, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Gull-billed Terns, Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Forster’s Terns, American Oystercatchers, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, and Ospreys. Bella made what I think was the most exciting find of the trip: 3 Black-crowned Night-herons foraging. Black-crowned Night-herons usually forage at dawn or dusk. I usually see them roosting during the day, so it was amazing to see them foraging in the middle of the day. There were also lots of turtles out and about crossing the road. I helped a Northern Diamondback Terrapin get across who was trying to dig a hole for her eggs in the middle of the drive.

Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls (Image by BirdNation(

American Oystercatchers (Image by BirdNation)

Osprey with a meal (Image by BirdNation)

Black-crowned Night-heron (Image by BirdNation)

Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Image by BirdNation)

 

Overall we saw 50 species. I had a wonderful time at Forsythe with Deborah and Bella. I’m looking forward to another adventure soon!

 

BirdNation’s Global Big Day

For Global Big Day, we went birding at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. We observed a total of 60 species, including 1 life list bird.

Here’s our official checklist:

• 173 Brant
• 34 Canada Geese
• 14 Mute Swans
• 2 Wood Ducks
• 10 Mallards
• 7 American Black Ducks
• 9 Green-winged Teals
• 14 Double-crested Cormorants
• 3 Great Blue Herons
• 13 Great Egrets
• 17 Snowy Egrets
• 42 Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis (Image by BirdNation)

• 3 Turkey Vultures
• 15 Osprey
• 1 Bald Eagle
• 1 American Coot
• 5 American Oystercatchers

American Oystercatcher (Image by BirdNation)

• 57 Semipalmated Plovers
• 33 Dunlin
• 54 Semipalmated Sanpipers
• 70 Short-billed Dowitchers

Short-billed Dowitchers (Image by David Horowitz)

• 1 Spotted Sandpiper
• 36 Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs (Image by David Horowitz)

• 20 Willets
• 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls
• 12 Laughing Gulls

Laughing Gull and Gull-billed Tern (Image by David Horowitz)

• 32 Herring Gulls
• 10 Great Black-backed Gulls
• 5 Gull-billed Terns
• 7 Caspian Terns (life list bird)
• 60 Forster’s Terns

Forster’s Terns (Image by BirdNation)

• 2 Mourning Doves
• 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
• 2 Downy Woodpeckers
• 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
• 1 Eastern Kingbird
• 7 American Crows
• 14 Purple Martins
• 8 Tree Swallows
• 2 Barn Swallows
• 3  Carolina Chickadees
• 4 Tufted Titmice
• 5 Marsh Wrens
• 2 Carolina Wrens
• 5 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
• 5 American Robins
• 11 Gray Catbirds
• 2 European Starlings
• 1 Black-and-white Warbler
• 18 Common Yellowthroats
• 10 Yellow Warblers
• 2 Prairie Warblers
• 3 Chipping Sparrows
• 7 Savannah Sparrows
• 3 Song Sparrows
• 2 Northern Cardinals
• 41 Red-winged Blackbirds
• 2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
• 5 American Goldfinches
• 1 House Sparrow

Did you go birding for Global Big Day? Where did you go and how many birds did you see? Tell us about it in the comments!

2018…So Far

Hello friends! We are 14 days into 2018 and it’s been pretty eventful so far…

Last year on January 6th, 2017, I saw one of my first real rare birds: an American White Pelican. Remember Mr. Pelican? It was a pretty special day.

 

This year, on January 6th, 2018 something else extremely special happened…

Dave and I got married!

Of course birds were part of the celebration. See the birds on my dress and the feathers in my hair? Dave’s mom was also nice enough to frame some of our best bird photographs and have them displayed throughout the reception room. I already considered Dave my lifelong birding partner, but I’m so happy it’s finally official!

Our wedding also happened to be on one of coldest day of the year/winter so far. I believe the forecast was a high of 13 with a windchill of -2. That’s the kind of weather we’ve been dealing with since the end of December here in New Jersey. So between the weather, our wedding, and generally craziness we haven’t had much opportunity to go birding.

Today, January 14, was our first birding trip of the year. We went to Forsythe NWR. It was 26 degrees, so most of the pools and parts of the ocean areas were frozen over. We only saw 11 species, but I think it’s pretty cool to see what the refuge looks like when its that cold. Species observed were: American Black Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, Herring Gulls, an American Crow, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Mallards, Canada Geese, a Northern Harrier, Mute Swans, and Tundra Swans.

American Black Duck (Image by David Horowitz)

Bufflehead (Image by David Horowitz)

Hooded Merganser (Image by David Horowitz)

 

Although we only saw 11 species on today’s trip, I’ve seen 31 species so far this year. This is the first year that I decided to keep a Year List. To be honest, I’m kind of bad at keeping lists, so we’ll see how I do. I wanted to try it though. Some days I get too busy with the really mundane things in life (like work lol), so I thought a Year List might help me stay connected with birds when I’m not able to spend time in the field. My first bird of 2018 was the Mourning Dove, which I feel is a nice start.

Question: if I did a feature at the end of each month about some of the new birds I added to my Year List that month, would that be interesting to read? Let me know in the comments. I’d like your opinion!

That’s where we are at so far. Waterfowl Wednesday will return next week (it’s been a bit of a crazy week!). Hope your year started off well. More to come very soon!

 

 

 

American Wigeon: Waterfowl Wednesday

It’s one of the best times of the year again: waterfowl season! And you know what means…the Waterfowl Wednesday feature is back for its 3rd winter!

Today we took our first winter trip down to Edwin B. Forsythe NWR and saw a plethora of waterfowl (13 species to be exact). One of these species was the lovely American Wigeon.

American Wigeon (Anas americana)

Description:

• Male Alternate Plumage (breeding): Pinkish-brown body, white forehead, green patch from eye to nape, white rear flanks, green speculum, black undertail coverts, gray cheeks/chin, white patch on upper wing, gray slightly down-turned bill with black tip
• Male Basic Plumage: (eclipse): Variable amounts of green and white on heads, and some white on undertail coverts (usually black)
• Female: Reddish-brown body, mainly gray heads with dusky/white streaks, gray slightly down-turned bill with black tip
• Immature: Very similar to female plumage, gets black tip on gray bill as it gets older

American Wigeon male (Image by BirdNation)

Range:

• Breeding: Canada and Northwestern United States
• Resident: Parts of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Colorado
• Winter: Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, southern half of United States, Mexico
• Migration: New England and Midwestern regions of United States

Habitat:

freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, bays, fields, lakes, coastal estuaries

Breeding male American Wigeon (Image by David Horowitz)

Diet:

Mainly aquatic plants, mollusks, some insects, seeds. Forages day or night on land or in shallow water by submerging head. Sometimes steals prey from diving ducks in deeper waters.

Breeding/Nesting:

• Courtship: jumping out of water, head-turning, wing-flapping, wagging tail. Several males court a single female, with pairs forming on wintering grounds.
• Nesting Site: Dry land away from water. Uses a small depression on the ground lined with grasses and down feathers. Conceals nest with vegetation
• Young: Female incubates 5-12 whitish eggs for about 3 weeks. Males tend to leave before the eggs hatch. Chicks are precocial, they leave the nest shortly after hatching and can feed themselves. The female will tend to the young until their first flights, which can be between 45-63 days after hatching.

Female Wigeon By Mdf (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Vocalizations:

Males whistle whew-whew-whew! Females give a low harsh quack or rred growl

Conservation: 

Although populations have risen and fallen over the years, American Wigeons are considered stable. Their breeding range has slowly been extending eastward. They are widely hunted during fall hunting season.

Fun Facts:

• American Wigeons spend more time in deep water than other marsh ducks.
• The male’s white forehead has given these ducks the nickname “Baldpate”.
• American Wigeons have been known to hybridize with the Eurasian Wigeon, a rare visitor to North America. Breeding male Eurasian Wigeons are distinct from Americans because of their dark rufous heads. Female Eurasians have a brown head. Juvenile Americans and Eurasians look almost completely alike, however, Americans have white underwings and Eurasians have gray underwings.

Male American (left) and Eurasian (right) Wigeons (Image via pinterest)