The Green-winged Teal

The green-winged teal (Anas carolinensis or Anas crecca carolinensis) is a common and widespread duck that breeds in the northern areas of North America except on the Aleutian Islands. This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters far south of its breeding range. The natty male has a cinnamon-colored head with a gleaming green crescent that extends from the eye to the back of the head. In flight, both sexes flash deep-green wing patches (specula).

It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders. It is a common duck of sheltered wetlands, such as taiga bogs, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing. It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. Look for them on shallow ponds and in flooded fields, and listen for the male’s decidedly non-ducklike whistle. These common ducks breed along northern rivers; wintering flocks can number as many as 50,000. A good time to look for Green-winged Teal across most of the continent is during spring and fall migration, when the birds land in shallow wetlands, sometimes foraging in little more than puddles in flooded agricultural fields.

It winters in the southern states and along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The green-winged teal is an early migrant. They migrate in large flocks and often fly low over water, wheeling and turning together. Males migrate first. Green-winged teals migrate both during the day and at night.

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