Very interesting bird.
I agree with the ID. The axillaries and coverts are never this white on European Wigeon, so this has to be an American Wigeon. It does seem a bit odd though. The head pattern doesn't seem to be that different from the acompanying EW (although this may be due to some kind of special lighting?) and the head seems more slender than on the EW. I would have expected the head to be larger and more bulky on a female AW.
However there is nothing wrong with that underwing and that is the sole diagnostic character - and the best one. Congrats!

I don´t know if it means anything, but the white patch on the stomach and breast seems to be more rounded and eliptic on the bird to the right, where the left birds seems more quardratic white.

In Beaman and Madges "Birds of Europe, Northafrica and the Middleeast" there´s drawings showing the same proportions of the white patch on respectively American Wigeon and Wigeon, but nothing is mentioned in the text. Could that be another little and subtle character pointing in direction of AW ?

http://www.aba.org/birding/v37n2p156.pdf

JanJ

Tak Sam Eliott, jeg har set dene pdf som mest fokuserar på vingovenside men SKÖNT ÄNDÅ! Vad har KMO (min guru!) att tillföre???

De kridhvide armhuler og mellemdækkere er nok det bedste kendetegn for arten. Dette er jo her dokumenteret fint, hvor fuglen tillige ses sammen med Pibeand, hvilket udelukker "skyggereflekser" og andet, der kan forstyrre indtrykket.
Man ser desuden at fuglen har den meget vigtige sorte grænse mellem næb og hoved. Grænsen fremstår tydeligst omkring mundvigen. Så fuglen ser fin ud til Anas americana. Jeg har dog ikke læst den referance omkring overvingen, som Jan refererer til.

Stort tak för din kommentar Klaus! Du nämner att den sorte grænse mellem næb og hoved är viktig, vilket jag också förstått av vad jag läst. I den ovannämnda pdf-filen som Jan J länkar till står det bland annat: "Note also the black line at the base of the bill, which is diagnostic for American Wigeon in any plumage". Tyvärr finns det inga bilder på overvingen.

Jag såg just att den amerikanska bläsanden hittat vägen till Illinois Birders Forum där ingen tveksamhet - än så länge - råder över arttillhörigheten, skulle säga med all rätt.

Tommy's anka

Jan J, du är Internets okrönte KONUNG!!! Jag förundras över hur du hittar allt på nätet! Tommy´s anka(!), låter som en god maträtt ;-)

Jeg ville være noget nervøs ved at bestemme den til amr.pibeand ud fra disse billeder. Jeg kan godt se, at eur.pibeand synes at kunne udelukkes. Jeg tænker også mere på hybrid se f.eks
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2983451030_a3355032aa.jpg
Det ser i hvertfald ud til at vise, at hybrider kan have hvide undervinger. Det der så undrer mig med den aktuelle fugl, er de rødbrune farver den har ved masken, noget som jeg aldrig har oplevet ved amr.pibeand hun. Hvis jeg skulle bestemme denne til amr. måtte dette meget gerne have været på plads også. Det kan sagtens være en amr.pibeand, men det mener jeg ikke vi kan afgøre ud fra dette billede. Der er faktisk en del fund af hybrid eurxamr. pibeand, så i dette tilfælde mener jeg faktisk det er ret relevant at kunne udelukke.

Det hade varit intressant att veta hur stor variationen i hovedteckning är hos amerikansk pibeand. Ser 1k fåglar ut som adulta? Är kontrasten mellan hoved och flank/bröst alltid tydlig, eller är det åldersrelaterat? Hos våra pibeankor är variationen på hovedteckning stor enligt min erfaring. I synnerhet på efteråret. Håbes ni förstår min Svanska(!), halvdansker som jeg är.

Hello, I believe this tricky bird is a first year (male) Wigeon A. penelope. Head and neck are dark and reddish and the bird is getting first dark red feathers into chin. American Widgeon has always pale head and neck with very dense dark spreckling. Age can be told by narrow juvenile feathers on the sides, with some new feathers on flanks, typical at this time of the year. I believe the whiteness of axillaries is due to overexposure and position of the wing. When taking the photo into Photoshop and reducing light, the axillaries turn greyish and belly remains white.

Just goes to see when you focus on a single character, in this case, the underwing. The colour of the head was mentioned as a caution here However, as Aarno mentioned, the head and neck does show a reddish hue (actually slightly more obvious tha the Wigeon on the left) and if this is the case, we probably have a penelope. Also note that the upper wing has a different position compared to the left bird which probably is due to the whiter imression (also mentioned by Mikael Nord on the svalan link shown above)
At the end of the day, I´m not saying that the bird is def is an americana because as Aarno mentioned, this might well be a tricky adventure. How much (if any?) overlap is there? The bird is not accepted by the swedish rarity committee (per David Erterius)
If only there had been an upperwing shot.

JanJ

Just a pic of a penelope to show the impression of an underwing here