Family:
The blue-winged teal is a small dabbling duck with a round head and large bill. Males in breeding plumage have buff feathers with black speckles, and black wings and rump with a small white patch on their flanks. The head is blue-grey with a white crescent in front of the eye. Females and eclipse males are brown with darker marks and a dark supercilium.
Both sexes have a powder blue patch on their wing coverts that are visible in flight, a green speculum, and yellow legs.
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Blue-winged teals are surface feeders mainly eating plant matter including seeds and stems of sedge, grass, pondweeds, and duckweeds. They will also eat molluscs, crustaceans, and insects.
Blue-winged teals are found across North America except for the very north and desert areas. During breeding season they inhabit marshes, lakes, and rivers. They migrate in flocks to their winter grounds further south as far as Argentina.
One Response
Hi,
I have seen a pair of Blue-Winged Teal today at Cowwold , North Yorkshire. They were with many mallards on the little lake at Newburgh Priory at 1.00pm today.
I took photos, and fed the two of them, a male and femal.They seemed very hungry and not at all shy. fighting off Mallard for any food.
i wondered if they had escaped locally?