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Green-winged Teal

Status Common transient, fairly common in summer, rare in winter. Breeds. Spring migrants normally arrive in late March or early April (average 28 March, earliest 22 March, earlier birds having probably overwintered), with a peak usually about the second week in April. The bird nests widely in the province, especially in freshwater marshes in the Annapolis Valley and near the border, but also in coastal salt marshes. Considerable concentrations occur during September and October in coastal ponds and marshes, where they are also found routinely in small numbers through winter.

Description Length: 30-38 cm. Adult male: Head and upper neck mostly chestnut; patch from eye to back of head glossy green; chin black; back, sides and flanks brownish gray, finely barred with black lines; a white crescent usually present between breast and flank; wings gray; wing patch bright green, edged in front with cinnamon and white and with black bordering; breast buff, with round black spots; underparts white; undertail coverts and bill black; legs bluish gray; webs black. Adult female: Top of head, back, wings and tail dark brown with buff or white edges to the feathers; underparts paler, lightest on belly; wings similar to those of male but often with little or no cinnamon on wing bar. Immatures: Similar to adult female.

Breeding Nest: On the ground, made of grass and lined with down, sometimes in dry places but usually on or near marshy ground. Eggs: 9-13; creamy buff. A nest at Grand Pre found by Ralph L. Mosher on 30 June 1950 was partially concealed in a patch of cultivated strawberries growing near a cattail marsh and contained 13 eggs.

Range Breeds from Alaska, the Mackenzie Valley, James Bay, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to northern Maine, Minnesota and central California. Winters from southeastern Alaska, Nova Scotia and New England, south to Honduras and the West Indies. Also occurs widely in the Old World.

Remarks This is the smallest North American duck. The drake in full breeding regalia is handsome, considered by many to rate second only to the elegant male Wood Duck. If confronted with danger during flight, it is able to accelerate its speed dramatically. On a marsh near Amherst many years ago, a small flock came in, attracted by our floating decoys. After circling a few times, they came almost within shooting range still showing suspicion and suddenly detected the deception. Instead of turning off, which would have afforded us a shot, they put on a burst of speed and "zoomed" low over the blind. By the time we reversed our shooting positions, they had flown beyond range.

It is a hardier bird than its relative the Blue-winged Teal, arriving earlier in spring and remaining much later in fall. Its numbers in the 1960s compared favourably with those of my boyhood recollections.

The subspecies that occurs regularly in Nova Scotia is Anas crecca carolinensis. However, the Eurasian subspecies, Anas crecca crecca (formerly designated as a separate species), is a rare vagrant here. The drake of this subspecies lacks the white crescent carried on each side of the breast by the North American form which, in turn, lacks the white stripe along each side of the back above the wing that the Eurasian drake displays. The females of the two subspecies are practically indistinguishable. A male of the Eurasian subspecies was collected in September 1854 (Jones 1885), and another was taken at Minesville, Halifax County, on 14 February 1913. It was not reported again until 26 April 1955 at the Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary. Since 1971, there have been seven spring occurrences of one or two birds in the Amherst region as early as 25 March 1979 and as late as 6 May 1976. They were also seen at the Glace Bay Bird Sanctuary on 3 April 1971 (2 birds), and on the West Lawrencetown Marsh, Halifax County, on 14 April 1983 (2 birds) and 28 April 1984 (1 bird). A drake appeared on Sullivans Pond, Dartmouth, on 3 January 1980 and was last seen on 30 March of that year.