Blue-winged Teal

Anas discors

Order ANSERIFORMES - Family ANATIDAE - Subfamily Anatinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A small duck of shallow ponds, the Blue-winged Teal breeds across much of the central and northern United States and Canada. Rather dull in plumage overall, it reveals its powder-blue wing patch in flight.

Cool Facts

• The Blue-winged Teal is among the latest ducks to migrate northward in spring, and one of the first to migrate southward in fall.

• The Blue-winged Teal migrates over long distances. One individual banded in Alberta was shot in Venezuela a month later.

Description

• Size: 36-41 cm (14-16 in)
• Wingspan: 56-62 cm (22-24 in)
• Weight: 230-545 g (8.12-19.24 ounces)

• Small duck.
• Brown or gray overall.
• Large light blue patches on front of wing, visible in flight.
• Male with white crescent on face.

• Bill blackish.
• Face gray or blue-gray, with white at base of bill.
• Legs and feet dull yellow.
• Eyes dark brown.

Sex Differences

Male with large white crescent on front of face and white patch on rear flank; female dull gray-brown.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Blue-gray head with large white crescent behind bill. Cinnamon-brown body feathers, patterned with fine black marks. White patch on rear flank. Upper wing with light blue patch with white rear border. Back of wing iridescent green.
Eclipse (Basic) Plumage: Gray-brown overall, without white patches. Faint outline of white face crescent.

Female

Gray-brown overall, with small white area at base of bill. Bill dark. Light blue upper wing patch with narrow white border. Back of wing mostly brown, with little green.

Immature

Similar to adult female.

Similar Species

• Female Cinnamon Teal very similar in appearance, but is warmer brown, less patterned, has a plainer face, and a longer bill.
• Female Green-winged Teal is warmer brown, lacks white near the base of the bill, has a smaller bill, and lacks the blue wing patch.
• Male Northern Shoveler has a similar wing pattern, but is larger, has a white chest, reddish flanks, and a huge bill.
• Female Greater and Lesser scaup have white patches at the base of their bills, but not in a thin crescent across a gray-blue face. They lack a white flank patch.

Sound

Male's call is a loud, high whistle or a nasal bleat. Female gives loud, evenly spaced quacks.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds throughout much of North America, from southeastern Alaska to the Atlantic coast, and through the Great Plains as far south as the Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana. Greatest breeding densities in the prairie states and provinces.

Winter Range

Winters in small numbers along the southern coastlines of the United States, from California and the Carolinas southward. Also throughout Mexico, Central America, and especially northern South America.

Habitat

Shallow ponds and seasonal and permanent wetlands.

Food

Aquatic invertebrates, seeds, and plants.

Behavior

Foraging

Dabbles with just bill in water or tips up with entire head under water.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A depression on the ground, in grassy areas near water. Lined with grasses and down.

Egg Description

Creamy white.

Clutch Size

6-14 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Covered in yellow down with a gray-brown eye stripe. Able to leave nest soon after hatching.

Conservation Status

After the Mallard, the Blue-winged Teal is the second-most abundant duck in North America. Populations subject to decline in years of drought on prairies.

Other Names

Sarcelle à ailes bleues (French)
Cerceta ala azul (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Bellrose, F. C. 1976. Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
2. Rohwer, F. C., W. P. Johnson, and E. R. Loos. 2002. Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors). In The Birds of North America, No. 625 (A. Poole