Proposal (795) to South American Classification Committee

Add Mareca penelope (Eurasian Wigeon) to official SACC list

Effect on South American checklist:

This proposal would transfer Mareca penelope from the Hypothetical list to the Main list.

Background:

This is a short proposal based on a note that is in press in Cotinga. During a birding tour in January 2016 at Bon Accord, Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago, I saw and photographed a vagrant Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) (Johnson 2018). A photo is included with the published note (screen shot below), and another photo is published in the Fourteenth Report of the Trinidad and Tobago Birds Status and Distribution Committee.

This record follows a published sight record from Venezuela in 2002 (Williams and Beadle 2003).

Recommendation:

Transfer Eurasian Wigeon from the Hypothetical list to the Main list on the merits of the published photographed record from Trinidad and Tobago in 2016.

References

Johnson, T. 2018. A Eurasian Wigeon Mareca penelope in Trinidad and Tobago: first documented record for South America. Cotinga 40: 79-80.

Kenefick, Martyn. 2017. Fourteenth Report of the Trinidad and Tobago Birds Status and Distribution Committee. Living World, Journal of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club, 2017: 64-69. Online at: http://ttfnc.org/livingworld/index.php/lwj/article/download/598/609

Williams, R. S. R. & Beadle, D. D. (2003) Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope in Venezuela: a new bird for South America. Cotinga 19: 71.

Tom Johnson, June 2018

Comments from Remsen: “A: YES. Published photo with diagnostic characters visible”.

Comments from Jaramillo: “YES – Identification clear from photos, which include the lack of a dark anterior (face side) of the bill.”

Comments from Areta: “YES. Pictures shown suffice for species diagnosis.”

Comments from Stotz: “YES. Diagnostic photographic evidence.”