Green-winged Teal Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Green-winged Teal are very small ducks. They have short, blocky bodies and their tails sit high out of the water. The head is large, the neck is short, and the bill is relatively small.

  Relative Size

  A very small duck: much smaller than a Mallard; slightly larger than an Eared Grebe. About the size of a Pied-billed Grebe.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 12.2-15.3 in (31-39 cm)
    • Weight: 4.9-17.6 oz (140-500 g)
    • Wingspan: 20.5-23.2 in (52-59 cm)

  © Jeff Stacey / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Adult males have grayish bodies with a narrow white vertical stripe extending from the waterline to the shoulder. In good light, their dark heads are cinnamon with a wide green swoop from the eye to the back of the neck. Females are brown with a yellowish streak along the tail. Both sexes have green wing patches in the secondaries (speculum), but these may be hidden when not in flight.

• Behavior

  Green-winged Teal are dabbling ducks that feed on vegetation by tipping up in shallow water or by picking at food items while standing in puddles, flooded fields, and margins of wetlands.
• Habitat

  Green-winged Teal feed on shallow bodies of water and in flooded fields. They breed in dense vegetation along river deltas. During migration and winter, look for them on shallow wetlands, coastal marshes and estuaries.

Regional Differences

In Europe and Asia, a form of the Green-winged Teal (often called Common Teal) lacks the male’s white vertical stripe on the breast and instead shows a white horizontal stripe on the shoulder. Another subspecies from the Aleutian Islands shares these markings with “Common” Teal.

Regional Photos

© Guido Bennen / Macaulay LibraryNordrhein-Westfalen, January 04, 2011

© Frank King / Macaulay LibraryNewfoundland and Labrador, March 04, 2017