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Green-winged Teal
Scientific Name:
Anas crecca carolinensis
Type:
Bird
Habitat:
Shallow bodies of water with lots of vegetation, marshes, lakes, and estuaries
Range:
Alaska south into Central America; California to the east coast
Status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Green-winged teals are the smallest, and one of the most common dabbling ducks. About the size of a crow, green-winged teals can weigh about 5 to 17.6 ounces, measure just over 12 to 15.3 inches in length and have a wingspan of just over 23 inches. Both the male and female green-winged teals have a section of green feathers on their wings. Males have a cinnamon colored head with a green crescent from their eye to the back of their neck while the females are a brown with a yellow streak near their tail. There are two subspecies of green-winged teals, the American, which is distinguished by a vertical white stripe on his shoulder, and the Eurasian who displays a horizontal white stripe across his side. The diet of green-winged teals can vary depending on availability but will likely include aquatic invertebrates, and seeds.
Fast Facts:
Green-winged teals are dabbling ducks moving their heads along the surface of the water and they filter the water and mud through small comb like projections called a lamellae around the edge of their bill; this allows them to filter out and eat even smaller food particles.
There are American and Eurasian green-winged teals, and there is another subspecies specific to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Anas crecca nimia. This particular group does not migrate, instead they spend their winters on the coast foraging on the beach or in tide pools, while they spend their summers on inland ponds and lakes.
Sources:
In The Shadow of Fox Peak. An Ethnography of the Cattail-Eater Northern Paiute People of Stillwater Marsh. Catherine S. Fowler Cultural Resource Series Number 5 US Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge 1992
Contributor(s):
Regina Hockett (research & content)
Kevin Lynch (edits & page design)