Blue-winged teal prefer slow-moving currents or calm waters. Inland marshes, lakes, ponds, pools, and shallow streams with abundant emergent vegetation are where they may be found. Breeding takes place in salt-marsh meadows near ponds or creeks in coastal locations. Blue-winged teal rest on rocks sticking out of the water, muskrat burrows, tree trunks or branches, exposed stretches of coastline, or mud flats. The first ducks to migrate south in the fall and the last to migrate north in the spring are often blue-winged teal. Adult drakes leave the breeding grounds earlier than adult hens and immatures. Most flocks of blue-winged teal can be spotted around mid-September.
Blue-winged Teal Specifications
Blue-winged Teal ID
Throughout much of North America, pairs and small groups of this little dabbling duck may be found in marshes and shallow ponds. Some blue-winged teal go to South America for the winter, making them long-distance migrants. They depart from their nesting areas in the United States and Canada well before other species do in the fall as a result of their early spring and fall migration. The Blue-winged Teal travels far during its migration. The Blue-winged Teal is one of the later spring migrants to the north and one of the early fall migrants to the south.
