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Eurasian Wigeons are medium-sized dabbling ducks. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. In addition, males have different plumages during the breeding season and in eclipse. Breeding male Eurasian Wigeons have a creamy forehead and an otherwise brown head and neck, with the darkest shade of brown found on the throat. The chest is pinkish-brown, while the back and wings are very finely barred light-grey, with part of a white wing patch visible. The flanks and belly are white, while the undertail coverts and the rump are black. The flight feathers are dark-grey with white edge lining. In eclipse the head is dark-brown with fine dark-grey streaking, and a dark-grey area from behind the eyes around the back of the neck. The only parts of the body plumages that do not change colour compared to the breeding season are the flight feathers and the white wing patch, which still remains partly visible when the wings are folded. The chest and flanks are chestnut to rusty-brown, with dark-grey wing coverts that have chestnut to rusty-brown edge lining. The undertail coverts and rump are pale chestnut to creamy with grey barring. Females have cryptic plumage, with vermiculation all over. The head and neck are grey with brownish-grey, while the back, in particular the wing coverts, are dark grey-brown with light-grey edge lining. The chest and flanks are pale pinkish grey-brown. Only the belly and vent are white like the males'. Both sexes have dark-brown irises and a light bluish-grey bill with a dark-grey tip. The legs and feet are grey. Immature first-year males resemble adult males in eclipse, but possibly with an indication of a creamy forehead. Juveniles resemble females.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Eurasian Wigeon is available HERE .

Although, as the name suggests, primarily an Eurasian species, Eurasian Wigeons are also commonly found on Iceland, Spitsbergen and also in North America, where they often associate, and can interbreed, with the American Wigeon (not presented on these pages). Their breeding grounds are in Arctic tundra all across the northern hemisphere, while they spend the northern winters in more temperate climate zones, including parts of the tropics, such as e.g. parts of the Indian subcontinent and also the eastern Atlantic island groups off West Africa and parts of the Philippines in South-east Asia. During their migration they can basically be found anywhere between breeding grounds and winter grounds.

In Europe, except for a few selected sites in Poland and in the Baltic States, where they breed, Eurasian Wigeons are found as breeding migrants in the northern parts, i.e. Scotland, Scandinavia and in north-western Russia. They are found as winter visitors from Denmark southwards, along the North Sea and Atlantic coastline, around the entire Mediterranean Sea, including the Mediterranean islands and some parts of inland Iberia. Anywhere else they are found only during their migration.

Eurasian Wigeons have a preference for open wetlands, often around fresh water, with taller plants for cover, but they are flexible in their choice of habitat, even during the breeding season. During the winter they show a preference for (near-)coastal habitats.

J. Pires reports spotting Eurasian Wigeons occasionally during the non-breeding season in Portugal, e.g. in the Tejo estuary, Portugal, in March 2016 and in Palhais, Barrero, Portugal, in January-March 2018.

D. Wilczynska reports spotting Eurasian Wigeons in wetlands along the river Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, in April 2017.

A. Sarok reports finding Eurasian Wigeons in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.