How to Identify a Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)

• Head pattern: Male: chestnut (cinnamon) head with an iridescent green ear patch/stripe from the eye to the back of a slightly crested head
• Size compared with look-alikes: Male and Female: North America's smallest dabbling duck
• Body pattern: Male: white bar on the side of the chest and a yellow 'tail-light' patch bordered black at the rump
• Head pattern: Female: known by small size, a strong eyeline, and a gray bill
• Wing patch (speculum): Male: gray wing with an iridescent black-green speculum with a rusty-orange anterior border; Female shows a white anterior border instead

Green-winged Teal's small size and lack of a blue wing patch separate it from both Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal The Blue-winged Teal page lists its own marks.

Marshes, rivers, bays; open country near shallow freshwater lakes and marshes in summer; coastal estuaries and tidal marshes in migration/winter Breeds from Alaska across northern Canada and the northern Plains; winters across the southern and coastal US

Males produce a distinct two-syllable whistle during flight and on the water

Shoot from water level if you can, with the sun behind you, so head pattern and the wing patch show their true colors. Get one frame with the bird side-on and one as it stretches or flaps, which exposes the speculum and belly. Note who it is swimming with; ducks flock by species. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above, and check the female separately, since females of many ducks look alike.