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  Profile

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  In flight

Waterfowl

Green-winged Teal

Anas carolinensis

• uncommon
• 40 km/h
• Least Concern

The smallest dabbling duck in North America. Flies in tight, twisting flocks that change direction like a single organism.

Population

~3.9 million mature individuals (2019 estimate, Partners in Flight), increasing

Habitat

Shallow freshwater wetlands for breeding — tundra wetlands and permanent freshwater marshes/pools, boreal forest bogs and peatlands, taiga bogs with snowmelt water; in winter, shallow ponds, flooded agricultural fields, coastal freshwater lakes, and saline/brackish salt marshes

Fun fact

The Green-winged Teal is the smallest dabbling duck in North America, yet the oldest known banded individual lived at least 20 years and 3 months.

Range

Breeds across the northern Nearctic from Alaska through Canada to Saint Pierre et Miquelon; winters in southwestern Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean (regular vagrant to Europe, NW Africa, and NE Asia)

Diet

Seeds and aquatic vegetation, plus small invertebrates filtered from water and mud using comblike lamellae along the bill edge, which let it capture smaller food items than other dabbling ducks

Size

0.35 m

Wingspan

0.56 m

Lifespan

20 years