Breeding males have a deep brownish-red body with a long black bill, red eye, and a black back and rear.
Females and nonbreeding males have a coarsely marked brown body with faint darker eyeline and cap, and a long black bill.
Typically found in shallow freshwater wetlands such as marshes, flooded fields and ditches, ponds, and slow streams.
Occurs in freshwater marshes with emergent vegetation and other types of wetlands.
In flight note the green secondaries and powdery-blue shoulder.
Note the plain-faced look on the female and the bright cinnamon-colored male.
Males in nonbreeding plumage are more subdued in coloration. Their red eyes help to differentiate them from similar nonbreeding Blue-winged Teal.
In flight shows bright white underwings.
Males have bright powder blue wing patches in breeding and nonbreeding plumages.
Average clutch size ranges from 8–11.
Click on an image to compare
A relatively small duck with sizable head and rather long bill, longer than Blue-winged Teal’s but shorter than Northern Shoveler’s.
Larger than a Green-winged Teal, smaller than a Northern Shoveler.
crow-sizedOnly one subspecies (septentrionalium) occurs in North America. Another four subspecies occur in South America: tropica and borreroi are endemic to Colombia, while orinomus and cyanoptera are found from Peru southward. These subspecies differ in the intensity of rusty color in males, the extent of spotting in their plumage, and also in the degree of size difference between male and female.
Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl(Order: Anseriformes, Family: Anatidae)
Need Bird ID Help? Try Merlin
The Cornell Lab will send you updates about birds,
birding, and opportunities to help bird conservation.
