Blue-winged Teal

The Blue-winged Teal is a small, dainty dabbling duck closely related to the Cinnamon and Northern Shoveler. The breeding drake is a warm mottled brown overall, most notable for a bold white crescent on the face just in front of the eye, set against a slate-gray head, with the body speckled in dark spots.

Females are mottled brown, similar to other small dabbler hens, but both sexes reveal a pale powder-blue patch on the forewing in flight — the source of the species' name — bordered by a green speculum.

Key Field Marks

• Small size, similar to Green-winged Teal
• Breeding drake: slate-gray head with a bold white facial crescent, mottled brown spotted body, black rear end
• Female: mottled brown, plain face lacking bold markings
• Pale blue forewing patch visible in flight on both sexes, bordered by a green speculum

Similar Species

Cinnamon Teal drakes are overall deep rusty-red rather than brown-spotted and lack the white facial crescent; female Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal are extremely similar and best separated by subtle differences in bill shape and face pattern, often requiring careful, close observation. Both share the same pale blue wing patch.

Blue-winged Teal breed extensively across the prairie pothole region of the north-central United States and southern Canada, favoring shallow marshes, ponds, and wetlands with good emergent vegetation. They are among the earliest ducks to migrate south in fall and among the latest to return in spring, wintering farther south on average than most North American ducks, including large numbers in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

During migration, they often gather in large flocks on shallow wetlands and flooded fields.

Blue-winged Teal feed by dabbling in shallow water, taking seeds, aquatic invertebrates, and plant material, often foraging actively along muddy edges and in flooded vegetation. Their small size and quick, agile flight allow them to use small, temporary wetlands.

The male's call is a thin, high-pitched whistle, while the female gives a soft quack. Nests are built on the ground in grassy cover, often some distance from water, with females incubating a clutch of 9-13 eggs alone; the species' long-distance migratory habits mean pairs typically form on the wintering grounds or during spring migration rather than on the breeding grounds themselves.