Eurasian Teal

The Eurasian teal, common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal (Anas crecca) is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range. The bird gives its name to the blue-green colour teal.

Scientific Name : Anas Crecca

Family : Anatidae

Order : Anseriformes

Class : Aves

Type : Ducks, Geese And Swans

Conservation Status : Least concern (LC)

Size : 34 – 43 cm

Compare Size : House crow +-

Wingspan : 53 - 59 cm

Weight : 360 - 340 g

Migratory : Migrant

Sex Alike : No

Nesting Season : May

Other Names :

English : Common Teal, Eurasian Green-Winged Teal, Green-Winged Teal

Hindi : छोटी मुरघबी

Marathi : चक्रांग बदक

Habitat:
sheltered freshwater wetlands with some tall vegetation

Breeding:
Eggs - 7 to 10, Cream coloured with a glossy texture.

Feeding:
In the breeding season it eats mainly aquatic invertebrates, such as crustaceans, insects and their larvae, molluscs and worms. In winter, it shifts to a largely granivorous diet, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants and grasses, including sedges and grains?


Identification Features

Male
Head chestnut; iridescent dark-green wide patch of half-moon- or teardrop-shape that starts immediately before the eye and arcs to the nape. The patch is bordered with white line bellow the eye area and with yellowish-white line along the crown area this border line extends beyond the patch area to the base of bill with a curve
Neck chestnut exect near the base; the base of neck has the pattern of the respective parts its flanked with e.g. breast, mantel
Breast buff with small round brown spots
Belly white in center
Scapulars outer feathers are white, with a black border to the outer vanes, and form the white side-stripe when the bird is in resting position
Secondaries speculum has two adjusent iridescent green and black bands both borderd with white on top and bottom; the border under green patch is comparatively thin
Tail black with yellowish-buff triangular patch in the center of the coverts at each sid
Uppertail Converts black with yellowish-buff patch
Undertail Coverts black with yellowish-buff patch
Bill black
Note :
In Breeding plumage except head, neck and tail is mostly white with thin and dense blackish vermiculations, appearing medium grey even at a short distance; In Non-breeding plumage simillar to female but is more uniform in colour considering head and neck
Female
Head paler than main body; thin straight dark stripe running from back of eye towards the nap
Neck paler than rest of the body
Crown slighlty darker than head
Bill dark-grey
Belly midbelly whitish with some dark streaking
Secondaries speculum iridescent greenish-black borderd with white on top and bottom; the white border is much thick as compared to those in male
Note :
overall brown due to each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown giving a scally appearance

Gallery

SIGHTINGS

Date Location
2019-01-31 31 Jan 2019 Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan
2019-02-01 01 Feb 2019 Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan

Similar Birds

(Ducks, Geese And Swans)