There is no way to deny that this is a crap shot of a Storm Wigeon. This awful photo was taken at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma last week.

Crappy Storm Wigeon photo from Sequoyah NWR, OklahomaCrappy Storm Wigeon photo from Sequoyah NWR

I can tell the story behind this image, and that is exactly what I plan to do. The story begins a long time ago.

For as long as I’ve been photographing American Wigeons, I’ve hoped to find and take high-quality images of a Storm Wigeon. A Storm Wigeon is a rare color morph of a male American Wigeon, likely occurring in just 1 out of every 500 or 1,000 drake wigeons.

I’ve been searching for one for years. Each and every time I photograph flocks of American Wigeons, I find myself scanning through the flock, hoping to spot a Storm Wigeon.

The Storm Wigeon might as well have been a purple unicorn. I’ve consistently dipped on finding one—until last week, that is.

Steve Creek and I were at the refuge at the Four Corner Slough, where many dabbling ducks were present. An injured drake Gadwall was on the slough, and I took a few long-distance images of him for documentation. I recall remarking that there weren’t any diving ducks present, which I found interesting.

We left the refuge after having a nice morning there and I didn’t think anything more about the duck photos I took until I uploaded them to my hard drive.

While I was reviewing the photos I had taken, I scrolled through the duck flock images and found the purple unicorn. By that, I mean I saw the Storm Wigeon I had searched for so long.

My Storm Wigeon photo isn’t high quality. In fact, it’s the poorest quality image I believe I’ve ever shared on my site.

And when I photographed the rare wigeon, I didn’t even know it was there on the slough.

Maybe one day I’ll finally get the Storm Wigeon photo I’ve been dreaming of. Until then, I’m going to laugh about this image. Laughter is great.

Life is good.

Mia

This image is a huge crop of the original photo and shows what was in the top-right portion of the file.

Click here to see more of my American Wigeon photos plus facts and information about this species.