Bird name:

Garganey

Anas querquedula

Order

ANSERIFORMES

Family

Geese and Ducks (Anatidae)

Code 4

GARG

Code 6

ANAQUE

ITIS

175093

Breeding Location:

Lakes, Marshes, freshwater

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Casual to accidential on northwest coast

Egg Color:

Creamy yellow to light olive

Number of Eggs:

7 - 12

Incubation Days:

21 - 23

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Made of plant material., Grass lined with down.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Garganey: Small, strikingly patterned dabbling duck with black-streaked, gray upperparts, chestnut-brown mottled face and breast, and pale gray flanks. White stripe above eye and running down neck is distinctly visible. Wings have pale blue shoulder patches and dark green speculum with white borders visible in flight. Female resembles female Blue-winged Teal, but is paler brown, has pale gray shoulder patches, and blue-green speculum with white borders. Rare visitor to Alaska.

Range and Habitat

Garganey: Native of Eurasia; breeds locally from Britain and France to central Europe, north to southern Sweden and more continuously from eastern Europe into Russia. Regular migrant in west and central Aleutians and other Alaskan islands. Preferred habitats include shallow freshwater lakes and marshes with abundant marginal vegetation.

Breeding and Nesting

Garganey: Seven to twelve creamy yellow to light olive eggs are laid in a ground nest made of grass and plant materials, lined with down, and hidden in tall grass or under a shrub. Incubation ranges from 21 to 23 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Garganey: Feeds on aquatic plants, insects, crustaceans, and mollusks; forages by dabbling in shallow water.

Vocalization

Garganey: Utters a dry, rattling, burping display sound.

Similar Species

Garganey: Blue-winged teal lacks thick, white eyebrow, distinct white speculum borders, and has darker underparts.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Shoulder

The short feathers overlying the median secondary coverts on the top of the wing. They are located near the back and can be seen as the “first row” of feathers on the birds wing. They are also called marginal coverts and lesser secondary coverts.

Speculum

The brightly colored area on the wing (secondaries of the wing) on several duck species.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America