We spotted a single Blue-winged Teal at the edge of a flooded spot in a field. These dabbling ducks breed in our corner of the US but are not as numerous as their cousins, Green-winged Teals. So it was a nice sighting.

Three of the fifteen worldwide varieties of teal are found in the US. The Blue-winged and Green-winged breed across the US, including my area of New England. A third species, the Cinnamon, is only found in the western US. Digging through my piles of photos revealed that I had photographed all three species on the same day in Texas in 2019. These are, in order, Cinnamon Teal, Blue-winged Teal (both taken at Santa Ana NWR, San Juan) and Green-winged Teal (Estero Llano Grande State Park, Weslaco).



They are quite small and elegant ducks. I love them. I just saw a pair of Teals after their return to Finland, unfortunately too far away for a good photo.
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The Green-winged Teal are quite small. It is really noticeable when they are near Mallards or other average sized ducks. I hope you can get a chance to photograph your teals so we can see a nice post about them!
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