Green-winged Teal by the Millions

BirdNote®
Green-winged Teal by the Millions
Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

    [Green-winged Teal female calls]

In spring, millions of small ducks move into shallow wetlands in North America — tidal flats, sedge meadows, rice fields, sloughs and backwaters.

When these flocks of ducks erupt from a flooded field, they reveal a dark body with a blaze of green feathers in the wing. Their voices sound like crickets or tiny frogs.

    [Green-winged Teal male peeps]

These are Green-winged Teal, North America's smallest dabbling duck, just over a foot long and weighing less than a pound. As a dabbling duck, they feed from the water’s surface by sticking their head underwater without fully submerging. Around three million Green-winged Teal breed across the northern U.S. and Canada.

The male has a cinnamon brown head with a band of green behind the eye.

    [Green-winged Teal male peeps]

Both males and females have a green bar on the wing that gleams like an emerald when the sun strikes it.

    [Green-winged Teal male peeps]

Courtship is elaborate. Males show off with calls and displays, and up to 25 males may court a single female at once. The female selects just one of her many suitors.

    [Green-winged Teal peeps]

It’s a remarkably competitive courtship ritual that plays out every year.

    [Green-winged Teal peeps]

For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Green-winged Teal ML424247961 recorded by Bob Hasenick.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote April 2024
Narrator: Ariana Remmel

ID# GWTE-01-2024-04-24        GWTE-01

References: 
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/gnwtea/cur/introduction
https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/birds/american-green-winged-teal/