During the summer months, blue-winged teal can be found throughout North America, from southeastern Alaska (western limit) to the Atlantic coast (eastern limit). They are also found in the continental U.S. in the Great Plains as far south as the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. In the winter months they migrate southwards to the Carolinas, southern California, and New Mexico and into tropical South America. Although (Lemaster, 1985)is commonly found in Neartic regions, it is also found in Australia. These ducks breed in southern Alaska and western Canada and south to northwestern California, New Mexico, and New York.
Freshwater habitats for (Bennett, 1938)include shallow ponds and seasonal and permanent wetlands. They often use both temporary and permanent ponds. During breeding season, blue-winged teal remain near the water's edge in ponds and wetlands, preferring to breed in areas of calm, sluggish water.
are called blue-winged teal because both sexes have blue spots on their forewings. They also have large white patches on the front of the wing, best visible when in flight. Males are smaller than females. Males have a large vertical white crescent on their face, between the eye and the bill, and a white patch on their rear flank. Females lack the crescent and white patch, with dull gray-brown coloration.
Wingspans range from 56 to 62 cm, and total lengths are typically 36 to 41 cm. Adults weigh 280 to 499 g. (Guillemain, et al., 2007)
Blue-winged teal are seasonally monogamous. Pairs usually form on wintering grounds and during spring migration. Most female are paired when they arrive on breeding grounds.
A group of males will court one female. Males swim after females and perform a variety of courtship displays. Usually, courtship begins in flight, when males call and pursue females in an erratic flight. A typical on-water display would be: a male swims in front of a female and with his body at an angle to her line of her movement, but his head is up so that the bill points away from the female. The female accepts a male by stretching her head outward. Then her head is lowered and her bill is pointed toward the male. They both perform a head pump. (Bailey, et al., 1973; Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal nest from late April through early May. They tend to breed in northern prairie potholes and parklands. Nesting habitat includes wetland areas within grasslands, such as shallow marshes, sloughs, flooded ditches, and temporary ponds. Females lay 6 to 14 eggs, which take 21 to 40 days to hatch. Young reach the fledgling stage at about 24 days and are independent after 40 days. (Livezey, 1980)
Females are in charge of nest maintenance and rearing the young, males play no apparent part. Females change their breeding locality each year. To create a nest, a female digs a bowl-shaped depression with her feet and pulls in dried grass that is available around the nest bowl. She lays one egg per day, typically totalling more than 10 eggs. Upon returning to the nest, she lands a short distance from the nest so that predators do not know the nest location. When the eggs hatch the female preens her hatchlings until they are dry and clean. She then leads her ducklings to a nearby wetland and does not return to the nest. The young remain with their mother until they are ready to fly, about 40 days post-hatching. (Glover, 1986; Kear, 2005; Livezey, 1980)
Ducklings are susceptible to parasites and diseases, and often do not reach maturity. Botulism (Clostridium botulinum) and avian cholera (Pasteurella multocida), both bacterial diseases, impact blue-winged teal populations heavily through ingestion of the bacteria. Migration is another source of mortality, particularly in young teal. Blue-winged teal that do survive to adulthood have been known to live up to 17 years. (Rohwer, et al., 2002; Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal are highly gregarious, tending to move in or form a group with others of the same species. The only time they are not social is during breeding season. Blue-winged teal migrate between wintering and breeding ranges each year. They are generally subordinate to larger-bodied dabbling and diving ducks. They are active during the day. Blue-winged teal can walk well on land and in shallow water. They are not known for climbing, but they often rest and preen on logs and rocks that are slightly above water. They can gain flight directly from land or water. The only time a blue-wing teal will dive in the water is if threatened by a predator or when trying to escape copulation attempts. Blue-winged teal use preening, head-scratching, and stretching of the body to self-clean. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal establish small territories around nests during the breeding season. During the remainder of the year they do not defend territories or remain within a set home range. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Males that are unpaired usually make a loud, high-pitched whistle "peew" or a low-pitched nasal "paay." A male's decrescendo begins with a single call that is followed by a short series of low-pitched "pews." These types of calls are broadcast during fall and early winter, but rarely after pair formation.
During the mating season, females give a short series of loud, evenly- spaced, single quacks, which vary in volume and duration. When a female that has already found a mate is being pursued by another male, she makes a quack sound followed by a "gaek" note to warm them off. Females also quack to communicate with their young. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal consume a variety of aquatic invertebrates, including insects, crustaceans, snails, and small clams, and aquatic vegetation, including seeds. When females are breeding they require a diet higher in protein, so they eat more invertebrates and seeds. (Rohwer, 1986)
Long-tailed weasels Mustela frenata often consume blue-wing teal eggs. Females are susceptible to predation by raptors when incubating and when walking near nests between incubation bouts. In prairies, these ducks are captured by red foxes Vulpes vulpes. Females and ducklings are cryptically colored to avoid detection by prey.
Other predators include: peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), minks (Neovison vison), raccons (Procyon lotor), bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), coyotes (Canis latrans), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), American badgers (Taxidea taxus), American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia), and Franklin's ground squirrels (Spermophilus franklinii). (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Most blue-winged teal live mutualistically with other dabbling ducks. There are many parasites that infect this species, including Pasteurella multocida (avian cholera), and protozoans, such as Cyanthocotyle bushiensis and Spahaeridotreme globulus. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal are game birds. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
One concern about blue-winged teals is the spread of avian influenza, which can decimate bird populations and be transmitted to humans. (Rohwer, et al., 2002)
Blue-winged teal, although not rare, are protected under the Migratory Bird Act. Bag limits are set to maintain healthy populations. Also, the U.S. and Canada have banned pesticides and other contaminants that had been killing blue-winged teals. For instance, mercury levels and also organochlorine residue found in lakes and ponds are controlled/limited by these governments. Dieldrin is a type of insecticide that can concentrate in migratory birds--it has since been banned.
Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Monica Mingo (author), Radford University, Karen Powers (editor, instructor), Radford University.
Living in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea and associated islands.
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
uses sound to communicate
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
an animal that mainly eats meat
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
an animal that mainly eats leaves.
A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.
mainly lives in water that is not salty.
An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.
An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
marshes are wetland areas often dominated by grasses and reeds.
makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds
eats mollusks, members of Phylum Mollusca
Having one mate at a time.
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
specialized for swimming
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton; mainly unicellular algae. (Compare to zooplankton.)
breeding is confined to a particular season
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
a wetland area that may be permanently or intermittently covered in water, often dominated by woody vegetation.
uses touch to communicate
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
uses sight to communicate
young are relatively well-developed when born
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