Blue-Winged Teal

Description: The male blue-winged teal has a slate gray head and neck area with a dark curl in their plumage in front of their eyes with a dark area on top of their head. The breast feathers are tan with dark spots and the backside is light or white colored. The wings are mostly blue to blue-gray with some iridescent feathers growing on their wings creating a green color with light colored feathers on the bottom of their wings. They have a black bill with yellow legs and feet. Males create a whistling-like sound when flying and when on the water. Female blue-winged teals have a brown to grayish head and a dark area above their eyes and on top of their heads. The breast areas are brown with a brownish-green color on the top of their bodies, the tops of the wings have a duller appearance than the males. Their bill is dark and the legs of a female are yellow or brown. The female makes a squeak instead of the male’s whistle.

Breeding: Blue-winged teal will breed usually in the northern prairies areas and much of the open national parks of central North America. The populations are higher the further east you get and the further south you get. They will usually make a nest in wetland and marshy areas with tall grasses and reeds, oftentimes in wooded swamps, ponds, lakes, and river sloughs. Females will typically nest in a different location each year, a result of wetlands moving with weather and development, and she will lay about 10 eggs annually.

Migrating and Wintering: Blue-winged teal usually fly south before most other migrating waterfowl, moving in the fall months. They are usually the last birds to migrate back north as well. They fly from their winter areas in Gulf Coast states, Mexico, and Central America up to prairie states in the spring. In the winter months, they will live in mangrove forests, estuaries, and wetlands. Most blue-winged teal will fly to Texas or Florida for winter months.

Food habits: Blue-winged teal will eat a large variety of foods, everything from vegetation growing in wetlands, ponds, and lakes to seeds and nuts, and also bugs and crustaceans living in flooded areas.

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