Blue-winged Teal- Anas discors
Family: Anatidae
Order: Anseriformes
Description: 14-16″ (36-41 cm) A small brown duck with pale blue shoulder patches. Male has gray head with white crescent in front of eye. Female mottled brown, similar to female Cinnamon Teal but with obscure patterning on face and to female Green-winged, but grayer and larger billed, with pale blue shoulder patches like the male.
Voice: Soft lisping or peeping note. Female utters a soft quack.
Habitat: Marshes, shallow ponds, and lakes. The prairie-pothole region is the heart of their breeding range.
Nesting: 9-12 dull white eggs in a down-lined hollow, concealed in grass near water.
Range:
FYI’S: The Blue-winged teal are one of the latest to arrive on their breeding grounds, and will leave early in the fall.
Blue-winged Teals migrate over long distances. One individual was banded in Alberta and shot in Venezuela a month later.
They are one of Ohio’s more numerous migrant waterfowl.
They generally avoid open waters of lakes in favor of sheltered backwaters, flooded fields, marshes, and small ponds.
Resource material provided by:
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com
www.enature.com
The Birds of Ohio by Bruce G. Peterjohn
