Yellow-Billed Teals

Description:

Spotted this Yellow-Billed Teal family at the Laguna Nimez Reserve, El Calafate, Argentina. The reserve is an IBA Important Bird Area with over 80 species of birds, both Patagonian residents and migrants.

Habitat:

Laguna Nimez Reserve, El Calafate, Argentina.

Notes:

The Yellow-billed Teal is a common duck of southern South America. The species shows the compact proportions typical of teal and is gray below and brown above with a dark brown head and yellow bill. Overall Yellow-billed Teal look like a darker, smaller and less elegant version of the widely sympatric Yellow-billed Pintail. Birds from the high altiplano are pale silvery below, whereas the lowland race is darker grayish brown. In flight and when excited, males give a creaky "peeet" call and females quack, also typical of teal. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Neotropical Birds http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/por...