As is usual with most birds, the male of the species is the more colourful although the basic colour for both sexes is brown eyes, blue-grey legs and feet, white belly and upper middle coverts, blue bill with a black tip, black nostrils and green speculum on each wing, the young being grey with spots on the belly. In the breeding season (from February to the end of July), the male wigeon has a very variegated plumage, with his head and upper part of his neck being bright bay; the back and sides under his wings waved with black and white; his breast purple, the lower part of his body white; and his legs are dusky. At the end of July, his feathers become dark and grey again and he becomes hard to distinguish from the female.

In general the wigeon has a round head and body, with a thin bill, a steep forehead with a slightly curved shape at the back of the head, a narrow neck, and a pointed tail and wingtips. The wigeon has a rapid flight with the wings often appearing sickle-shaped. It is medium sized and the short bill, light belly and the white shoulders of the male show up clearly in flight.

The average body weight of the male is about 720 grams, with the female weighing a little less at about 640 grams. The male has a body length of about 19.3 inches and the female about 17.9 inches. Both sexes have a wingspan of about 32 inches although the male has a slightly longer wing length than the female.

Feeding

Wigeon is a herbivore that uses its short serrated edged bill in grazing for food. You will mainly see wigeon feeding and unlike most ducks they do this out of the water, grazing on short grass around the scrapes and ditches of the marsh and the roots growing at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and ponds. The general diet consists of herbs, grasses, pondweeds, Wigeon grass, eelgrass (Zostera), and algae (Chara and Enteromorpha). 

Call

Listen out for the whistling call of the wigeon as the pairs communicate while they feed. They have a very familiar ‘wee-oo’ call, which rises and falls quickly.

Behaviour

Wigeons commonly fly in small flocks during the night, and may be known from other birds by their whistling note, while they are on the wing. The Wigeon is a solitary bird that avoids human contact and rarely associates with other bird species.

The Wigeon is easily domesticated in places where there is plenty of water yet it is generally claimed that they will not breed in confinement, or at least that the female will not make a nest and incubate her eggs; but that she will lay eggs, which are generally dropped into the water.

Distribution and Habitat

They quit the desert morasses of the north on the approach of winter, and as they advance towards the end of their destined southern journey, they spread themselves along the shores, and over the marshes and lakes, in various parts of the continent, as well as those of the British Isles, North Africa, North America, and South America.

In the breeding season, the Wigeon lives on river deltas, rivers, ponds, marshes, coastal bays, and fresh water lakes. They are commonly found in Europe, North America, South America, Iceland, and Greenland. During the winter, the Wigeon lives mostly on estuaries, estuarine grasslands, mudflats, and inland areas near coasts. Wigeons usually winter from the southern British Isles down to Northern Africa.

Breeding and Nesting

The juvenile wigeon is mature by the age of one and able to breed. During courtship the males make a loud whistling call to which the female responds by grunting and purring. They chose a nesting site near a water source and the nest itself is set into the ground. They hide their nests in dense vegetation and keep them widely dispersed. The female will usually lay 6-12 eggs per clutch and lay more than one clutch during the breeding season which lasts from March through the summer. The legs have an elliptical shape with a smooth surface and are cream coloured. The female incubates the eggs for about 24 days and stays with the chicks for about 40-45 days until they are fledged.