Habitat
In B.C., breeds from sea level to 1,200 meters elevation in the vicinity of freshwater sloughs, lakes, ponds, marshes, and rivers, but can breed far from water. Nests have been found in brushy, upland habitats often near lakes or marshy sloughs (Campbell et al. 1990, Mowbray 1999). In Yukon, breeds in coastal plains near major river deltas that are underlain by continuous permafrost with polygonal ground and other permafrost – related features. Vegetation is a mosaic of dry tussock, wet sedge, and low shrub tundra with tall brush (>3 m) in drainage courses and around lakeshores (Salter et al. 1980). In Alaska, breeds as far north as the coastal tundra (Bellrose 1980).
References
Bellrose, F. C. 1980. Ducks, geese and swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
Campbell, R. W., N. K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J. M. Cooper, G. W. Kaiser, and M. C. E. McNall. 1990. The Birds of British Columbia. Vol. 1 and 2, Nonpasserines. UBC Press, Vancouver, B.C.
Mowbray, T. 1999. American Wigeon (Anas americana). In The Birds of North America, Vol. 11, No. 401 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Salter, R. E., M. A. Gollop, S. R. Johnson, W. R. Koski, and C. E. Tull. 1980. Distribution and abundance of birds on the arctic coastal plains of the Northern Yukon and adjacent Northwest Territories, 1971-1976. Can. Field-Nat. 94: 219-238.
