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Blue-winged Teal
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| Blue-winged Teal, male
©
Jeff Foott Courtesy of eNature |
Species
description provided by eNature
Description
14-16" (36-41 cm). A small brown duck with pale blue shoulder
patches. Male has gray head and white crescent in front of eye.
Female mottled brown, similar to female cinnamon teal, but with
obscure patterning on face, and similar to female green-winged,
but grayer and larger billed, with pale blue shoulder patches like
the male.
Voice
Soft lisping or peeping note. Female utters a soft quack.
Habitat
Marshes, shallow ponds, and lakes.
Nesting
9-12 dull white eggs in a down-lined hollow concealed in grass near
water.
Range
Breeds from southeastern Alaska and western Canada to Canadian Maritimes
and south to northeastern California, New Mexico, and New York.
Winters from southern California, southern Texas, and Carolinas
southward through tropical America.
Discussion
Fast and wary, blue-winged teal fly in small groups or flocks, turning
in unison and flashing the blue area of the wing. They arrive latest
of all ducks at their breeding grounds and leave early in the fall.
On low, marshy prairies in the central part of the continent, where
this duck is most numerous, virtually every pond and pothole has
a breeding pair. The male commonly "stands guard" on the
pond while the female is incubating. Unlike other dabbling ducks
that form pairs in the fall, this teal begins courting in the spring
and often does not acquire the familiar breeding plumage until December
or January. Like most ducks, it goes through an eclipse plumage
and molts most of its feathers simultaneously, including the primaries,
and so is flightless until new feathers grow in.
