Green-winged Teal

The Green-winged Teal is a small, compact dabbling duck, the smallest regularly occurring species in North America. The breeding drake has a rich chestnut head with a bold, iridescent green patch sweeping back from the eye to the nape, a gray body finely marked with fine vermiculations, and a distinctive vertical white stripe on the side of the breast.

Females are mottled brown, similar to other small dabbling duck hens, but their tiny size and a bright green speculum (visible in flight or when the wing is exposed) help with identification. The species flies in fast, tight, agile flocks, twisting and turning in unison.

Key Field Marks

• Small size, noticeably smaller than a Mallard
• Breeding drake: chestnut head with an iridescent green eye patch, gray body, vertical white shoulder stripe, cream-colored patch under the tail
• Female: mottled brown, compact shape, green speculum
• Fast, erratic flight in tight flocks

Similar Species

Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal are similarly small but males show a pale blue (not green) wing patch and different head patterns; female Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal have a pale blue shoulder patch versus the Green-winged Teal's green speculum. The Green-winged Teal's small size and fast, twisting flock flight are also distinctive.

Green-winged Teal breed widely across northern North America, Europe, and Asia, favoring shallow marshes, ponds, and wetland edges with dense cover. They are highly migratory, wintering across the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America, as well as comparable latitudes in the Old World, often in large flocks on shallow wetlands, mudflats, and flooded fields.

Their small size and agility allow them to use very shallow and even ephemeral wetlands unsuitable for larger ducks, giving them broad habitat flexibility during migration and winter.

Green-winged Teal feed by dabbling in shallow water and mud, taking seeds, aquatic plant material, and invertebrates, and often forage along muddy edges and flooded fields in tightly packed groups. Their small size lets them exploit very shallow water other ducks cannot use.

The male's call is a sharp, high, whistled or bell-like note, quite different from a Mallard's quack, while females give a thin, high-pitched quack. Nests are built on the ground in dense grass or shrub cover, often well concealed and sometimes located surprisingly far from open water, with females incubating 6-11 eggs alone.