Blue-winged Teal

About the Blue-winged Teal

A small, fast duck that pours through Texas in big numbers - some winter here, many more passing to the coast and on to South America. The drake's white face crescent against a slate-blue head is unmistakable, and both sexes flash powder-blue shoulder patches in flight.

Blue-winged Teal are the long-distance specialists among our dabblers. They are among the last ducks north in spring and the first south in fall, with the vanguard hitting Texas ponds in August while it is still ninety degrees. Some individuals winter as far south as Peru and Brazil.

They favor shallow water - flooded fields, marsh edges, stock tanks - where they skim seeds and invertebrates from the surface and tip up in water barely deep enough to cover them. A feeding flock rides low and springs straight off the water when startled, wheeling away in tight, twisting formation.

The drakes photograph beautifully in late winter and early spring, once they have molted out of their drab eclipse plumage into that spotted chestnut body and painted face. Catch one in low sun and the "blue" wing patch turns almost turquoise.