General

Green-winged Teal: Small dabbling duck with pale, gray-barred sides and buff breast with a bold white bar down the side. Head is chestnut-brown with green ear patch. Bill is dark gray and legs and feet are olive-gray to gray-brown. Speculum is flashy green bordered with brown above and white below. Female is mottled brown with dark brown eye-line. Juvenile and eclipse male resemble female.

Range and Habitat

Green-Winged Teal: Breeds in northern Alaska, Manitoba, and Quebec south to California, Colorado, Nebraska, and New York. Spends winters in southern states and along the coasts. Preferred habitats include marshes, ponds, and marshy lakes.

Breeding and Nesting

Green-Winged Teal: Six to eighteen creamy white, light olive, or buff eggs are laid in a down-lined ground depression in tall grass, often several hundred yards from water. Incubation ranges from 20 to 24 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Green-Winged Teal: Eats seeds, aquatic plants, insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and tadpoles found while foraging in and adjacent to mudflats or while dabbling in shallow water.

Vocalization

Green-Winged Teal: Male makes a "KRICK-et" sound and the female emits a faint "quack."

Similar Species

Green-Winged Teal: None in range. In eclipse plumage, other eclipse male, female, and juvenile puddle ducks have longer bills and lack green speculum bordered with brown above and white below.