Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope)
About the Eurasian Wigeon
The Eurasian wigeon or European wigeon (Mareca penelope), also known as the widgeon or wigeon, is one of three extant species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus Mareca. It is common and widespread within its Palearctic range. The Eurasian wigeon was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas penelope. Anas is the Latin word for "duck", and penelope refers to a duck said to have saved Penelope when she was thrown into the sea. Her name derives from Ancient Greek πήνη pene, "braid" and ὤψ ops "appearance", from the ruse she used to deter suitors while her husband Ulysses was away. Following a study in 2009, 5 species of Wigeon were transferred to the resurrected genus Mareca, so the current binomial name is now Mareca penelope.
A real field recording of the Eurasian Wigeon. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
3 recordings on this page · licensed Public Domain / CC0 ×3 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark and elsewhere · xeno-canto lists 1,060 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- American WigeonMareca americanaprofile
- Chiloe WigeonMareca sibilatrixprofile
- Falcated DuckMareca falcataprofile
- GadwallMareca streperarecording
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.