Bird of the Week – Green-winged Teal
There sure are a lot of ducks… Here’s another dabbler species, pretty common in Alaska.
Green-winged Teal, Creamer’s Refuge, Fairbanks
The Green-winged Teal is North America’s smallest dabbling duck. Unlike many of North America’s other dabblers, this one does not breed extensively in the prairie pothole region of the central part of the continent. Instead it’s most abundant during summer breeding season in river deltas and wetlands of the boreal forest in Canada and Alaska. This Teal nests in dense cover, often in shrubs or sedges. While it is heavily hunted, because its breeding areas are far from human activity, its numbers have remained high and may even be increasing.
Alaska also hosts the Eurasian subspecies, called the Common Teal.
Green-winged Teal (crecca), St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands
You can see the slight variations in coloration. But in both the North American and Eurasian subspecies, the green mask and reddish-brown head are distinctive.
Camera geek stuff:
#1 f4, 1/30, ISO100
#2 f7, 1/200, ISO400
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Never realized greenies had red heads.
Jebya Bush mercifully pulled the plug on his campaign,which has been on life support forever. I sincerely believe that we,as concerned citizens, should go to court and force the campaign back to life until we are certain it is cooked? Remember,and never forget Terry Schiavo and what Bush did for her.