Teal

  
Teal is a medium blue-green colour.
It has its name from the Anas crecca, whose name is 'Common Teal', a member of the duck-family,
whose eyes are sorrounded by this speciel colour.

Order: Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Subfamily: Anatinae
Genus: Anas

Anas discors, Blåvingeand, Blue-winged Teal na     Anas discors orphna Anas carolinensis, Amerikakrikkand, Green-winged Teal am     Anas crecca nimia Anas cyanoptera, Kaneland, Cinnamon Teal am     Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium,     Anas cyanoptera tropica,     Anas cyanoptera borreroi,     Anas cyanoptera orinomus,     Anas cyanoptera cyanoptera Anas flavirostris, Gulnebbkrikkand, Speckled Teal sa     Anas flavirostris altipetens Anas flavirostris andium Anas flavirostris oxyptera Anas flavirostris flavirostris Anas puna, Punaand, Puna Teal, sa formerly included in Anas versicolor Anas versicolor, Sølvand, Silver Teal sa Probable genus Punanetta Callonetta leucophrys, Prydand, Ringed Teal sa Amazonetta brasiliensis, Brasiland, Brazilian Teal sa     Anas brasiliensis brasiliensis    Anas brasiliensis ipecutiri

Anas discors, Blåvingeand, Blue-winged Teal na

Blue-winged Teal    Blauwvleugeltaling  Sinisiipitavi   Sarcelle soucrourou Blauflügelente
 Kékszárnyú réce    Blåvingeand  Cyranka modroskrzydla  Pato media luna Blåvingad årta


© Jan Harteman

Very common both in the wild and in captivity, the Blue-winged Teal is known by two subspecies the Atlantic,
Anas discors orphna and the Prairie, Anas discors discors. Both subspecies are very similar to one another and
probably interbreed. The Atlantic Blue-wing breeds in the tidal marshes along the Atlantic coast from Canada to the Carolinas
and winters in the West Indies and South America. However, some birds remain resident year round in the middle of its range.
The Prairie Blue-winged Teal breeds in the central plains of North America, from Canada to New Mexico and Texas.
Winters from the Gulf Coast States to norhtern South America.


Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island, Florida
Photo: Hans Stieglitz
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anas_discors-001.jpg

The Blue-winged Teal is mostly all brown, with males having a slate-blue head with a white crescent in front of the eye.
The speculum is metallic green below the light blue forewing for which this species is named.
Hens resemble Cinnamon Teal hens, but lighter. The bill is black; legs and feet are yellow.

The hens begin to build nests close to a water source in thick cover in late May. Clutches consists of between 7 and 10 eggs
and are incubated for 24 days. Some hens will use a ground box if provided.
They fledge at six weeks and are able to breed their first year.
Text above partly © Text by Dan Cowell c/o Jan Harteman

Blue-Winged Teal, Birding Center, Port Aransas, Texas
Photo: Alan D. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-Winged_Teal.jpg


Anas carolinensis Amerikakrikkand Green-winged Teal am


Anas carolinensis - Green-Winged Teal, Birding Center, Port Aransas, Texas
Photo: Alan D. Wilson
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green-Winged_Teal.jpg

The Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, is a common and widespread duck that breeds in the northern areas of
North America except on the Aleutian Islands. It was considered conspecific with the Common Teal, Anas. crecca,
for some time but the issue is still being reviewed by the American Ornithologists' Union; based on this the IUCN and
BirdLife International do not accept it as a separate species at present. However, nearly all other authorities consider it distinct based on behavioral, morphological, and molecular evidence. (so here we go again.....)

This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters far south of its breeding range. It is highly gregarious outside of the
breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders.


Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

This is the smallest North American dabbling duck. The breeding male has grey flanks and back, with a yellow rear end
and a white-edged green speculum, obvious in flight or at rest. It has a chestnut head with a green eye patch.
It is distinguished from drake Common Teals (the Eurasian relative of this bird) by a vertical white stripe on side of breast,
the lack of both a horizontal white scapular stripe and the lack of thin buff lines on its head.

There are three subspecies of this little duck, the European (Common) Teal, Anas crecca crecca, and the American
Green-winged Teal, Anas crecca carolinensis, and finally Aleutian Teal, Anas crecca nimia. The major differences in the
subspecies, can be seen in the drakes. American drakes have a vertical white band on the side of it's breast, whereas the
European drakes have a horizontal white band above the wings. The Aleutian is nearly identical to the European,
but larger and found only on the Aluetian Islands and is not migratory.


Anas carolinensis, males, at Palo Alto Baylands, California
Photo: Ingrid Taylar
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anas_carolinensis_Palo_Alto_1.jpg

The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard. They can be distinguished from most ducks on size and shape, and the speculum. Separation from female Common Teal is problematic. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage,
the drake looks more like the female.

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. The clutch sizes range from 6 to 12 cream colored eggs and are
incubated for about 23 days.

The young grow quickly and are able to fly in about a month and a half. The immatures resemble the hen, but their underparts are spotted brown. Males will recieve their adult plumage and will breed their first year.

This is a noisy species. The male has a clear whistle, whereas the female has a feeble "quack".
Text: mostly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-winged_Teal


Anas cyanoptera Kaneland Cinnamon Teal am


Female in flight. Chile. Dec. 2005
© www.arthurgrosset.com

The Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, is a small, reddish duck found in marshes and ponds of western North and South America.

The adult male has a cinnamon-red head and body with a brown back, a red eye and a dark bill.
The adult female has a mottled brown body, a pale brown head, brown eyes and a grey bill and is very similar in appearance
to a female Blue-winged Teal; however its overall color is richer, the lore spot, eye line, and eye ring are less distinct.
It's bill is longer and more spatulate. Male juvenile resembles a female Cinnamon or Blue-winged Teal but their eyes are red.
They are 16 inches (410 mm) long, have a 22-inch (560 mm) wingspan, and weigh 14 ounces (400 g).
They have 2 adult molts per year and a third molt in their first year.[3]


The male is cinnamon-rufous with white stripes on its black scapulars and tertials.
It has a red eye. Chile, Dec. 2005
© www.arthurgrosset.com

Their breeding habitat is marshes and ponds in western United States and extreme southwestern Canada, and are rare
visitors to the east coast of the United States.Cinnamon Teal generally select new mates each year.
They are migratory and most winter in northern South America and the Caribbean, not migrating as far as the Blue-winged Teal. Some winter in California and southwestern Arizona. They are known to interbreed with Blue-winged Teals.
These birds feed by dabbling. They mainly eat plants; their diet may include molluscs and aquatic insects.


Male and Female Cinnamon Teals. Anas cyanoptera
Photo: Edward Russell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrussell/144110177/

Subspecies are: Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium, Northern Cinnamon Teal breeds from British Columbia to northwestern
New Mexico, and they winter in northwestern South America.
Anas cyanoptera tropica, Tropical Cinnamon Teal occurs in the Cauca Valley and Magdalena Valley in Colombia.
Anas cyanoptera borreroi, Borrero's Cinnamon Teal (possibly extinct) occurs in the eastern Andes of Colombia with records
of apparently resident birds from northern Ecuador. It is named for Colombian ornithologist José Ignacio Borrero.
Anas cyanoptera orinomus, Andean Cinnamon Teal occurs in the Altiplano of Peru, northern Chile and Bolivia.
Anas cyanoptera cyanoptera, Argentine Cinnamon Teal occurs in southern Peru, southern Brazil, Argentina, Chile,
and the Falkland (Malvinas).

All of the above subspecies are similar in appearance, with the obvious size exceptions.
The Tropical Cinnamon is also much more spotted than the others.
Text: Mostly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_Teal

A male moving out of its eclipse plumage in which it looks similar
to the female but more rufous and still with a red eye. Chile, Dec. 2005
© www.arthurgrosset.com


Anas flavirostris Gulnebbkrikkand Speckled Teal sa
Andean Teal


Speckled Teal, Anas flavirostris, at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC.
This photo is of subspecies Sharp-winged Teal, Anas flavirostris oxyptera. Nov. 2009
Photo: Dick Daniels, (http://carolinabirds.org/

The Speckled Teal, Anas flavirostris, is a South American duck species. Like other teals, it belongs to the diverse genus Anas;
more precisely it is one of the "true" teals of subgenus Nettion.

It resides in the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Brazil.
It has also established itself in South Georgia, where it was first recorded breeding in 1971.
It inhabits freshwater wetlands, preferring palustrine habitat to rivers.
Considering its wide range and local abundance, it is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
It is often split into two or more species.


© www.arthurgrosset.com

This species is also unique among its relatives in some aspects of its post-copulation behavior:
After dismounting, the drakes stretch themselves up high and swim around and alongside the females.[5]

Traditionally, there are 4 subspecies:
Merida Teal, Anas flavirostris altipetens – highlands of north-west Venezuela and adjacent parts of Colombia.
Andean Teal, Anas flavirostris andium - highlands of Colombia and Ecuador.
Sharp-winged Teal, Anas flavirostris oxyptera – highlands of central Peru to northern Chile and Argentina.
Chilean Teal, Anas flavirostris flavirostris – southern South America as far north as southern Brazil and northern Argentina.
Also in the Falklands (Malvinas)


© Jan Harteman

Each of the above have been considered as separate species, but increasingly the two northern taxa altipetens and andium,
which have a dark greyish bill, are considered as a single species, the Andean Teal, Anas andium, with altipetens as a subspecies). In that case, the two remaining taxa, which have a largely yellow bill, are referred to as the Speckled or Yellow-billed Teal
Anas flavirostris, with oxyptera as a subspecies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speckled_Teal


© www.arthurgrosset.com


Anas puna, Punaand, Puna Teal sa


Puna Teal, Anas puna, at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, North Carolina
Photo: Dick Daniels, http://carolinabirds.org

The Puna Teal, Anas puna, is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Anas.
It was previously regarded as a subspecies of the Silver Teal.

The Puna Teal is resident in the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile, and extreme northwestern Argentina
It is found on the larger lakes and pools in the altiplano.


Lauca N.P., Chile, Feb. 2007
© www.arthurgrosset.com

The Puna Teal is 19 inches long similar in size to a Mandarin or a Wood duck.
They have a black cap that extends to below the eyes. Their lower face and neck are creamy white.
Their upper tail coverts are gray, and their rear flanks are dark brown with thin stripes.
Back, chest and lower flanks are light coffee with dark brown spots.

Their bill is large, light blue with a black line down the middle.
They are sometimes kept in mixed collections but are protective of females and eggs during the breeding season.
In the wild they live in small groups of there own kind or with the closely related Silver Teal.

Puna Teal lay there eggs between April and June. Like Swans and Geese both parents rear the duckings.
They lay there eggs in long grass not always close to the water the eggs are a creamy pink color of which there may be several.
The relationship between the male and female may be long term.

The status of the Puna Teal is Least Concern.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puna_Teal


Lauca N.P., Chile, Feb. 2007
© www.arthurgrosset.com

Anas versicolor Sølvand Silver Teal sa

The Versicolor or Silver teal is native to South America.
There are two subspecies: the Northern Silver Teal, Anas versicolor versicolor, is the smallest of the the three(?),
and can be found in Boliva, Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil, central Chile and Northern Argentina;
the Southern Silver Teal, Anas versicolor fretensis, is very similiar to the Northern , but is larger and slightly darker,
both subspecies share a salmon colored patch at the base of the bill.
Their habitat is vatied, from shallow freshwater lakes, ponds and marshes on the pampas, to high altitude lakes.

The male has a black crown and nape, buff cheeks; fawn mottled with black on the breast & sides, barred gray and black flanks. The tail is is finely barred with black and white. Bill is slaty-blue, with a salmon colored patch at base (Northern & Southern)
and a black band on the culmen. Legs and feet drak gray. The Puna is similar, but much paler in overall color.
Nearly identical to male, the female is slightly duller and with the exeption of the Puna,
the salmon color on the bill is not has large as drakes.


© www.arthurgrosset.com

Their breeding season in the wild is from October to January; in captivity it is from April to June.
They are sexually mature the first year, but won't often breed until they are two.
Silver teals will make their nest under thick cover near water, but will accept open-fronted nest boxes that are concealed.
The 8 to 10 creamy-pink eggs will hatch after 25 days.
© Text by Dan Cowell, at www.harteman.nl


© Jan Harteman, www.harteman.nl

It lives on fresh water in small groups, and feeds primarily on vegetable matter such as seeds and aquatic plants.
Silver Teals are on the whole placid ducks but may be protective of eggs, young and females.


Silver Teal, Anas versicolor, at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC, March 2010
Photo: DickDaniels



Callonetta leucophrys Prydand Ringed Teal sa

The Ringed Teal, Callonetta leucophrys, is a small duck of South American forests. It is the only species of the genus Callonetta. Usually placed with the dabbling ducks, Anatinae, this species may actually be closer to shelducks and belong in the
subfamily Tadorninae; its closest relative is possibly the Maned Duck.

Ringed Teal in Heidelberger Zoo, Nov. 2009
Photo: Xocolatl

The male and female remain colourful throughout the year, lacking an eclipse plumage.
The drake has a rich chestnut back, pale grey flanks and a salmon-coloured breast speckled in black.
A black band runs from the top of its head down to the nape.


Ringed Teal, Callonetta leucophrys, at London Wetland Centre, England - August, 2008.
Photo: Keven Law

Females have an olive-brownish back with the head blotched and striated in white, with pencilled barring on a pale chest and belly. Both have a dark tail, a contrasting pale rump, and a distinctive white patch on the wing.
Bills are grey and legs and feet are pink in both sexes. Pairs easily bond.
Their contact calls are a cat-like mee-oowing in ducks, a lingering peewoo in drakes.

The Ringed Teal breeds in north-west Argentina and Paraguay, also occurring in Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay.
Their habitats include tropical, swampy forests and marshy clearings in well-wooded lowlands,
as well as secluded pools and small streams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_Teal


Male Ringed Teal in Brazil
Photo: Lee Karney, United States Fish and Wildlife Service


Amazonetta brasiliensis Brasiland Brazilian Teal sa

Brazilian Teal  Kachnicka rudonohá    Braziliaanse taling  -  Sarcelle du Brésil u
Amazonasente  -  -   Brasiland  -  - -

The male on the left has a red bill and legs while the female on the right has a grey bill.
The other key feature in the male is the pale grey area on the cheeks and the sides of the neck
© www.arthurgrosset.com

The Brazilian Duck or Brazilian Teal, Amazonetta brasiliensis, is the only duck in the genus Amazonetta.
It was formerly considered a "perching duck", but more recent analyses indicate that it belongs to a clade of South American
dabbling ducks which also includes the Crested Duck, the Bronze-winged Duck, and possibly the steamer ducks

The ducks are light brown in colour. Drakes distinguish themselves from females in having red beaks and legs, and in having a
distinctive pale grey area on the side of its head and neck. The colour of these limbs is much duller in females.

Brazilian ducks live in pairs or in small groups of up to twenty birds. Both parents look after their hatchlings.
They eat seeds, fruits, roots and insect, while ducklings eat only insects.


Also called Brazilian Duck, Brazilian name: pé-vermelho
© www.arthurgrosset.com

They can be found throughout eastern South America, from Uruguay, to northern and eastern Argentina, Paraguay,central
Venezuela, Brazil, northeastern Peru, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Colombia.
Their preferred habitat is a body of freshwater away from the coast with dense vegetation nearby.


Couple, female left.
Photo © Jan Harteman, www.harteman.nl

There are two sub-species
Anas brasiliensis brasiliensis, the nominate race, located in Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, central Venezuela,
eastern Colombia, northeastern Peru.
Anas brasiliensis ipecutiri located in Brazil, Northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
They are plentiful and are listed as Least Concern[1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Duck



Jardim Botânico de São Paulo, Dec. 2007
Photo: Dario Sanches