Title for isMapCaptionTextVariationOne

Title ES for isMapCaptionTextVariationOne

Fast and wary, Blue-winged Teal fly in small groups or flocks, turning in unison and flashing the blue area of the wing. They arrive latest of all ducks at their breeding grounds and leave early in the fall. On low, marshy prairies in the central part of the continent, where this duck is most numerous, virtually every pond and pothole has a breeding pair. The male commonly "stands guard" on the pond while the female is incubating. Unlike other dabbling ducks that form pairs in the fall, this teal begins courting in the spring and often does not acquire the familiar breeding plumage until December or January. Like most ducks, it goes through an eclipse plumage and molts most of its feathers simultaneously, including the primaries, and so is flightless until new feathers grow in.

Blue-winged Teal

Species Connections

This map shows connections for 0 individual birds. Data generously shared by researchers from 0 studies, stored on Movebank, the USGS Bird Banding Lab, Motus, and the Bird Genoscape Project. Seasonal ranges derived from eBird at the Cornell Lab, and data from BirdLife International and Audubon.