Green-winged teal
Anas crecca
Identification Tips:
- Very small, short-necked, and small-billed dabbling duck
- Green speculum
- Whitish belly
- Juvenile similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
- Alternate plumage worn from Fall through early summer
- Dark bill
- Rich rust-colored head
- Iridescent green face patch sweeping through eye and tapering to
the back of head
- Buff chest with dark spotting
- Gray flanks and back
- Vertical white line at fore part of flanks
- Horizontal black line above flanks
- Buff outer undertail coverts bordered by black
- Black central undertail coverts
Adult male basic:
- Similar to adult female, but with duller face pattern
Adult female:
- Dark gray bill
- Pale brown head and neck
- Dark brown cap and eye line
- Dark brown back and upperwing coverts scalloped with buff
- White breast spotted with brown
- White belly
Similar species:
Adult male unmistakable in winter. Females, immature and
eclipse males similar to most female ducks, but are very small,
short-billed, and have a distinctive wing pattern that is sometimes
visible at rest.