By Sally Siko

One of my favorite visitors in NC are the American Wigeons.
I absolutely love their plumage patterns featuring that striking mix of bright green, white and warm brown feathers.
They are fun to photograph too!
These guys have boisterous personalities, constantly stirring up trouble in a mixed flock in an effort to snatch a meal from their rivals lol!
I captured these images last year while birding in the OBX. It’s been a long year waiting for December to roll in and I can’t freak’n wait to get back out there next week to enjoy these beautiful feathered gems again 🙂

A wintertime resident of the Tarheel State, the American Wigeons breeding range extends from the state of Alaska south through Canada’s Prairie Provinces and down through the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region.
Each autumn they fly south to spend the cooler months in Mexico and the Caribbean Islands as well as locations along the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts here in the United States.

Preferring large open bodies of water away from the woods, large flocks American Wigeons are a fairly common sight in the eastern Piedmont region and coastal areas of North Carolina.
Look for them in wide open freshwater marshes, lakes, rivers, ponds, brackish bays, impoundments and estuaries from now through late March/early April.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5