diff --git a/doc/api/api_changes.rst b/doc/api/api_changes.rst
index 82c3d0640533..41c5366a1d16 100644
--- a/doc/api/api_changes.rst
+++ b/doc/api/api_changes.rst
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ For new features that were added to matplotlib, please see
 Changes in 1.3.x
 ================
 
+* In :class:`~matplotlib.patches.FancyArrow`, the default arrow head width,
+  ``head_width``, has been made larger to produce a visible arrow head. The new
+  value of this kwarg is ``head_width = 20 * width``.
+
 * Removed call of :meth:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes.grid` in
   :meth:`~matplotlib.pyplot.plotfile`. To draw the axes grid, set to *True*
   matplotlib.rcParams['axes.grid'] or ``axes.grid`` in ``.matplotlibrc`` or
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/patches.py b/lib/matplotlib/patches.py
index 54328f593583..4ad03ee410de 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/patches.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/patches.py
@@ -1021,7 +1021,7 @@ def __init__(self, x, y, dx, dy, width=0.001, length_includes_head=False,
 
         """
         if head_width is None:
-            head_width = 3 * width
+            head_width = 20 * width
         if head_length is None:
             head_length = 1.5 * head_width