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Blue-winged Teal

Status Common transient, fairly common in summer. Breeds. Widespread in freshwater marshes and ponds, less so in salt marshes. Migrants generally arrive in late March or early April (average 1 April, earliest 24 March), and in numbers by mid-April to early May. Large gatherings are seen from late August, and last sightings are routine to late October and occasional in November. Individuals or small groups have occurred on Christmas Bird Counts (latest 25 December 1972 on the Halifax West count), but there are no later winter reports.

Description Length: 37-41 cm. Adult male: Forehead and crown blackish brown; large white crescent in front of eye; sides of head and neck lead-gray, glossed with faint purple sheen; upperparts dark brown; wing coverts pale blue and separated from green speculum by a bar of white; patch on either side at base of tail white; underparts brown, evenly spotted or barred with black; undertail coverts black; legs yellow or orange. Female: Mainly dark brown, the feathers bordered with buff or white; much paler underneath; wing similar to that of male, but white bar in front of speculum is much reduced.

Breeding Nest: On the ground, seldom far from marshy areas, always well concealed. Composed of fine dry grasses and usually lined with down. Eggs: 10-13; buff. A nest containing 13 fresh eggs was found on 21 May 1953, on the bank of the Kentville Bird Sanctuary. Although the female flushed at a distance of only about 3 m, it took some time to locate the nest, so well was it concealed. It was cup-shaped and hidden in a depression prepared by the bird at the base of a thick clump of tall, coarse grass. The edge of the nest was about level with the ground surface and, apparently by a flick of her wing when she flushed, the mother had concealed the eggs with a light covering of grass and down, making the eggs invisible even when looking straight at the nest. The female fluttered off weakly and dropped in the marsh reeds nearby and was not seen again; the male was not in evidence. A female followed by seven downy young was seen in a slough on the Grand Pre meadows on 8 August 1944; the late date and small brood suggest a deferred nesting attempt.

Range Breeds from east-central Alaska, Great Slave Lake, Manitoba, southern Quebec and southwestern Newfoundland, south to northern California and North Carolina. Winters from the southern United States to Brazil and Peru.

Remarks On 4 October 1940 at the Kentville Bird Sanctuary, I watched two of these birds actively feeding. Instead of surface feeding, with occasional "tipping" as is their custom, they both resorted to diving and stayed under for 10-20 seconds. They were accompanied by an American Black Duck feeding in the same manner.

This bird shows a strong preference for freshwater ponds or sloughs and is seldom seen on tidal waters. It is one of the first of our native ducks to leave its summer habitat and one of the latest to return in spring. It has shown a notable increase in Nova Scotia during the past 50 years but is still less common on Cape Breton Island than on mainland Nova Scotia. The female Green-winged Teal is similar but lacks the conspicuous blue patch on its upper wing.