Scientific Name: Spatula discors
Common Name(s): Blue-winged Teal

©Becky Matsubara

Identification:

The blue-winged teal is one of the smaller dabbling ducks. The adult teal is 16 inches long, has a 23-inch wingspan, and weighs about 13 ounces. Males and females have slightly different colorations, but they both have sky-blue wing coverts (the feathers in the middle of the wing), green feathers on the wing near the birds’ armpit, and yellow legs. Males have a brown body with dark speckling on the breast, a slate-blue head with a white crescent behind the bill, and a small white flank patch in front of the black rear. Females are mottled brown and have a whitish area at the base of the bill.

Range:

The blue winged teal is found in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia, and south to northern Texas.  It winters along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and south into the Caribbean islands and Central America.

Ecology:

The blue-winged teal feeds by dabbling in shallow water at the edge of water bodies. They mainly eat plants, but they occasionally eat mollusks and aquatic insects. Due to their diet, blue-winged teal prefer to inhabit shorelines, especially those with dense vegetation, more often than open water. They build their nesting sites on dry ground in grassy areas, but their nests are usually within a few hundred yards of open water.

These are the last dabbling ducks to nest, usually nesting from late April to May. Teal create nests by making a shallow depression in the ground lined with grass in an area surrounded by vegetation. Females lay 10-12 eggs each season and incubate eggs for 23-24 days. Once hatched, young ducks leave the nest within 24 hours. The Mother teal will help their young forage for the first few weeks, after which they are left on their own. Within 6-7 weeks of hatching, juveniles are ready to fly.

Common predators of blue-winged teal include humans, snakes, snapping turtles, dogs, crows, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and skunks. During nesting, blue-winged teal lose their eggs mainly to skunks, crows, and magpies.

Special Notes:
Here in Bella Vista, blue-winged teal would most likely be spotted flying or resting on a lake on their way to or from breeding sites out of state.