Blue-winged Teal

Anas discors

Pato Zarcel,
Cerceta Aliazul

Audio 2 (M. Oberle)

Male - Photo: G. Beaton

IDENTIFICATION: A small duck with a brown body and a blue wing patch, especially evident in flight. In breeding plumage the male has a steel-gray head with a white crescent in front. Length: 35-41 cm.; weight: 266-410 g.

VOICE: A high-pitched, double whistle; also a quacking note. Audio 2 (M. Oberle).

HABITAT: Spends the winter on fresh and salt water ponds, lagoons and mangrove swamps.

HABITS: Travels in small flocks and feeds on vegetation near the waterÆs surface, or by dipping its head into the water. This feeding behavior is called "dabbling," as opposed to diving---the other major type of duck feeding behavior. Dabbling ducks have smaller feet, often placed farther forward on the body, than do diving ducks. The TealÆs diet is mostly vegetable: leaves, roots and seeds of algae, grasses and other water plants. It also eats some molluscs, insects, and crustaceans. Pairs start to form before the Teal migrates from Puerto Rico in March and April. It breeds in northern North America where the female builds a simple nest: a scrape in the earth, hidden by dense vegetation near water. She lays 8-11 eggs and incubates them for 21-27 days. The young fledge 35-44 days after hatching. Sometimes other duck species lay their eggs in the nest of this species, leaving the female Blue-winged Teal to raise their young as well as her own. Individual Blue-winged Teal that have been banded as far away as Alberta and British Columbia in Canada have been recovered in Puerto Rico---after migrating more than 3,000 miles.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: This bird is the most common, migrant duck species that winters in Puerto Rico, and is a popular target for hunters. 95% of ducks shot in Puerto Rico each winter are Blue-winged Teal. Worldwide, its population varies with rainfall in the breeding range, but may be as high as 9,000,000 in the fall after a successful breeding season.

RANGE: Breeds on the Great Plains of North America, north to central Alaska and Newfoundland. It winters from California and the southeastern USA, south through Central America and the Caribbean, to Peru and the northern Amazon Basin.

TAXONOMY: ANSERIFORMES; ANATIDAE; Anatinae

References

Bent, A.C. 1923. Life histories of North American wild fowl, part I. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 126. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1962).

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1992. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/Fireside, NY.

Madge, S. and H. Burn. 1988. Wildfowl: an identification guide to the ducks, geese, and swans of the world. C. Helm, London.

Ortiz Rosas, P. 1981. Guía de cazador: aves de caza y especies protegidas. Depto. de Recursos Naturales, San Juan, PR.

Pérez-Rivera, R.A. 1980. Algunas notas sobre migración de aves en Puerto Rico. Science-Ciencia 7(4):123-126.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Rivera-Milan, F. F., Ramos, D., Boneta, W. and M.A. Delgado-Moura. 1999. Abundance and harvest of Blue-winged Teal in coastal wetlands of Puerto Rico. Vida Silvestre Neotropical 7(1):7-14.

Rowher, F. C., W. P. Johnson, and E. R. Loos. 2002. Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors). No. 625 in The Birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Saliva, J.E. 1994. Vieques y su fauna: Vieques wildlife manual. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Boquerón, PR.

Blue-winged Teal, Spanish text

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