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.  Juvenile is similar to female but has finely streaked and spotted ventral parts.

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. Casual elsewhere across North America. Preferred habitats include shallow freshwater lakes and marshes with abundant marginal vegetation.

Breeding and Nesting

Garganey: During the breeding season they frequent small, shallow ponds and lakes with abundant floating, emergent and fringing vegetation. 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: These ducks feed on a variety of plant seeds, pondweeds, grasses, and aquatic macro-invertebrates such as beetles and midges. They forage while swimming with their head under the water. They feed by filtering small particles from the water passed through their bills rather than by tipping up.

Vocalization

Garganey: Males emit crackling notes, burps, and harsh rattles. Females produce low "gack" calls.

Similar Species

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