Traveling with Blue-winged Teal

BirdNote^®

Traveling with Blue-winged Teal

Written by Bob Sundstrom 

This is BirdNote. 

[Blue-winged Teal flock with marsh background]

As a flock of ducks lift off from a marsh, their wings reveal large patches of powder-blue and emerald. These dabbling ducks are called Blue-winged Teal. They’re petite birds — noticeably smaller than Mallards.

[Blue-winged Teal flock with marsh background]

The male’s blue-gray head has a bright white crescent at the base of the bill and his cinnamon sides and underparts are peppered with dark dots. Females are mottled grayish brown.

[Blue-winged Teal call]

Blue-winged Teal are long-distance migrants, traveling from nesting areas in Canada and the U.S. to South America for the winter. They feed in shallow water with a preference during the breeding season for snails and fly larvae. In fall and winter they seek out plant matter, especially seeds.

[Blue-winged Teal call]

Blue-winged Teal pair up during the winter, and migrate together in spring to a nesting area—often to where the female was born.

There, the female will lay about 10 eggs, which hatch after three weeks. Once the eggs hatch, mother and ducklings walk away from the nest area within 24 hours, never to return to their nest again. 

[Blue-winged Teal call with marsh background]

Within just weeks, the young will be flying and ready to join their parents in their great migration south. 

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

###

Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Blue-winged Teal ML159161811 recorded by Kathleen Dvorak, and Blue-winged Teal ML195703 recorded by Bob McGuire.
Blue-winged Teal Xeno Canto 173319 recorded by Paul Marvin. 
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote June 2023
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# BWTE-01-2023-06-30        BWTE-01

Reference:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue-winged_Teal/lifehistory
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/buwtea/cur/introduction