Blue-winged Teal

Description:

Female Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) at Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, Florida.

Habitat:

The Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) is a small dabbling duck from North America. The Blue-winged Teal is 40 centimeters (16 in) long, with a wingspan of 58 centimeters (23 in), and a weight of 370 grams (13 oz). The adult male has a greyish blue head with a white facial crescent, a light brown body with a white patch near the rear and a black tail. The adult female is mottled brown, and has a whitish area at base of bill. Both sexes have sky-blue wing coverts, a green speculum, and yellow legs. They have two molts per year and a third molt in their first year. The call of the male is a short whistle; the female's call is a soft quack. The placement of the Blue-winged Teal in the genus Anas is by no means certain; a member of the "blue-winged" group also including the shovelers, it may be better placed with them in a separate genus Spatula. It is not a teal in the strict sense, and also does not seem closely related to the Garganey as was for some time believed. Indeed, its color pattern is strikingly reminiscent of the Australasian Shoveler. DNA analysis of this species has revealed it is very close genetically to the Cinnamon Teal, another American teal with blue wings. The range is all of North America except western and northern Alaska, northern Yukon Territory, northern Northwest Territory, northeastern Canada. Blue-winged Teal are rare in the desert southwest, and the west coast. The breeding habitat of the Blue winged Teal is marshes and ponds. The breeding range extends from east-central Alaska and southern Mackenzie District east to southern Quebec and southwestern Newfoundland. In the contiguous United States it breeds from northeast California east to central Louisiana, central Tennessee, and the Atlantic Coast. The western Blue-winged Teal inhabits that part of the breeding range west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Atlantic Blue-winged Teal nests along the Atlantic Coast from New Brunswick to Pea Island, North Carolina. They migrate in flocks to winter in to the south of its breeding range. During migration, some birds may fly long distances over open ocean. They are occasional vagrants to Europe, where their yellow legs are a distinction from other small ducks like Common Teal and Garganey. The Blue-winged Teal winters from southern California to western and southern Texas, the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast and south to Central and South America. It is often seen wintering as far south as Brazil and central Chile. (credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-winged......)