Inexperienced-winged Teal are discovered throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Birds within the Previous 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 components of the northern United States. The 2 populations at the moment are thought of to be races of the identical species. This standing might change, as a result of genetic analysis reveals that, though the races share one haplotype, they in any other case have very completely different mitochondrial DNA.
Since shifting to Washington, Erika and I’ve looked for Frequent Teal. These geese are of informal incidence alongside each coasts of North America. We’ve got scanned hundreds of Inexperienced-wing Teal. On 1 March 2022 we met succeeded. Frequent Teal lack a white, verticle line behind their breasts. They’ve robust pale strains throughout the higher sides of their faces and below 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 reveals all these discipline marks. Much less apparent is a white, horizontal stripe fashioned by the scapular feathers that needs to be apparent on Frequent Teals. Be aware that the scapulars on our duck are white-edged, not darkish like on a Inexperienced-winged Teal. Not having this stripe obvious might 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 discipline marks, we’ve got no hassle calling this particular person as a Frequent Teal.
