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Green-winged Teal

Anas creccaOrder: ANSERIFORMESFamily: Geese and Ducks (Anatidae)

Green-winged Teal Male Portrait
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General

Green-winged Teal: Small dabbling duck with pale, gray-barred sides and buff breast with a bold white bar down the side. Head is chestnut-brown with green ear patch. Bill is dark gray and legs and feet are olive-gray to gray-brown. Speculum is flashy green bordered with brown above and white below. Female is mottled brown with dark brown eye-line. Juvenile and eclipse male resemble female.

Range and Habitat

Green-Winged Teal: Breeds in northern Alaska, Manitoba, and Quebec south to California, Colorado, Nebraska, and New York. Spends winters in southern states and along the coasts. Preferred habitats include marshes, ponds, and marshy lakes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"KRICK-et", "quack"

Interesting Facts

  • The American and Eurasian forms of the Green-winged Teal were formerly considered different species.
  • It was considered conspecific with the Common Teal for some time, and the issue is still being reviewed by the American Ornithologists' Union.
  • This is the smallest North American dabbling duck.
  • A group of teal has many collective nouns, including a "coil", "dopping", "knob", "paddling", and "spring" of teal.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Green-winged Teal
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Anas crecca
Length12 - 16 Inches
Wingspan22.5 Inches

Green-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal: Small dabbling duck with pale, gray-barred sides and buff breast with a white bar down the side. Head is chestnut-brown with green ear patch. Bill is dark gray and legs and feet are olive-gray to gray-brown. Speculum is flashy green bordered with brown above and white below.

● Song: "KRICK-et", "quack"

● Foraging & Feeding: Green-Winged Teal: Eats seeds, aquatic plants, insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and tadpoles found while foraging in and adjacent to mudflats or while dabbling in shallow water.

● Breeding & nesting: Green-Winged Teal: Six to eighteen creamy white, light olive, or buff eggs are laid in a down-lined ground depression in tall grass, often several hundred yards from water. Incubation ranges from 20 to 24 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Green-Winged Teal: None in range. In eclipse plumage, other eclipse male, female, and juvenile puddle ducks have longer bills and lack green speculum bordered with brown above and white below.

Flight Pattern

Swift, sometimes erratic, direct flight.
Green-winged Teal Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Green-Winged Teal: Breeds in northern Alaska, Manitoba, and Quebec south to California, Colorado, Nebraska, and New York. Spends winters in southern states and along the coasts. Preferred habitats include marshes, ponds, and marshy lakes.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationIncreasing
MigrationMigratory
Weight12.8 Ounces