Inexperienced-winged Teal are discovered throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Birds within the Outdated World, Frequent Teal, breed from Europe by way of Asia to the Aleutian Islands. New World birds, Inexperienced-winged Teal, are discovered throughout Alaska and Canada to many elements of the northern United States. The 2 populations are actually thought of to be races of the identical species. This standing could change, as a result of genetic analysis exhibits that, though the races share one haplotype, they in any other case have very totally different mitochondrial DNA.
Since transferring to Washington, Erika and I’ve looked for Frequent Teal. These geese are of informal incidence alongside each coasts of North America. Now we have scanned 1000’s of Inexperienced-wing Teal. On 1 March 2022 we met succeeded. Frequent Teal lack a white, verticle line behind their breasts. They’ve sturdy pale traces throughout the higher sides of their faces and beneath their eyes. Frequent Teal heads are barely paler than these of Inexperienced-winged Teal. Maybe the white patches on the again ends of Frequent Teal are a brighter white than the yellowish spots on Inexperienced-winged Teal. The perimeters of the Frequent Teal are extra coarsely barred than on the American race. Our duck exhibits all these area marks. Much less apparent is a white, horizontal stripe fashioned by the scapular feathers that ought to be apparent on Frequent Teals. Notice that the scapulars on our duck are white-edged, not darkish like on a Inexperienced-winged Teal. Not having this stripe obvious could point out that this fowl is a hybrid, however hybrids normally present the Inexperienced-wing’s vertical facet stripe. Due to the preponderance of all the opposite area marks, we have now no bother calling this particular person as a Frequent Teal.
