Cinnamon Teal

Cinnamon Teal, male

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Cinnamon Teal, female

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A small brightly colored duck, the Cinnamon Teal is found in ponds throughout the American West.

Description

• Small duck.
• Large light blue patches on front of wing, visible in flight.
• Male has bright cinnamon red head and body.

• Size: 36-43 cm (14-17 in)
• Weight: 280-500 g (9.88-17.65 ounces)

Sex Differences

Breeding male bright rusty red all over; female dull grayish brown.

Sound

Female gives loud, evenly spaced quacks. Male makes series of "chuk" notes.

Conservation Status

No apparent trends in population size.

Other Names

Sarcelle cannelle (French)
Cerceta castana, Pato colorado (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Cinnamon Teal is the only duck with separate breeding populations in North America and South America.

• Unlike most North American dabbling ducks, the Cinnamon Teal rarely breeds in the midcontinent prairie-parkland region.

• The female Cinnamon Teal often places her nest below matted, dead stems of vegetation so it is completely concealed on all sides and from above. She approaches the nest through tunnels in the vegetation.

Sources used to construct this page:

Gammonley, J. H. 1996. Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera). In The Birds of North America, No. 209 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.