For a long time the American Wigeon (Anas americana) has been known to be a common migrant and winter resident in Arizona. Evidence of wigeons breeding in the state, however, has been inconclusive. Although they are occasionally observed during summer in the high-elevation lakes of eastern and northern Arizona, we can find no reference to prove that wigeons nest there. Mearns (1890) shot “a number” at Mormon Lake (Coconino County) in late May 1887, and believed they were breeding there, although he found no nests. Phillips et al. (1964) wrote that the only recent breeding record was for Ashurst Lake (Coconino County) in 1929. No details were provided to verify these statements. Probably as a result of these records, Bent (1923) considered the wigeon to be “probably breeding” in northern Arizona and the AOU (1957) listed it as a rare breeder in northern Arizona.
These records, and observations of wigeons breeding in New Mexico (Huey and Travis 1961, Ligon 1961), leave little doubt that they have bred in Arizona but breeding has been poorly documented due to limited waterfowl investigations in this state.