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Eurasian teal
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Eurasian teal
The Eurasian teal (Anas crecca), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range. The bird gives its name to the blue-green colour teal.
It is a highly gregarious duck outside the breeding season and can form large flocks. It is commonly found in sheltered wetlands and feeds on seeds and aquatic invertebrates. The North American green-winged teal (A. carolinensis) was formerly (and sometimes is still) considered a subspecies of A. crecca.
The Eurasian teal belongs to the "true" teals, a group of small Anas dabbling ducks closely related to the mallard (A. platyrhynchos) and its relatives; that latter group in fact seems to have evolved from a true teal. It forms a superspecies with the green-winged teal and the speckled teal (A. flavirostris). A formerly proposed subspecies, A. c. nimia, from the Aleutian Islands, differs only in slightly larger size; it is no longer considered distinct.
Whether the Eurasian and green-winged teals are to be treated as one or two species is still being reviewed by the American Ornithologists' Union, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International now separate them. Despite the almost identical and highly apomorphic breeding plumage of their males, which continues to puzzle scientists, they are currently considered distinct species, as indicated by a wealth of behavioural, morphological, and molecular data.
The Eurasian teal was first scientifically named by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema naturae. His Latin description reads: [Anas] macula alarum viridi, linea alba supra infraque oculos – "a duck with green speculum, a white line above and below the eyes" – and his primary reference was the bird's description in his earlier work Fauna Svecica. The description he used in Systema Naturae was the name under which the bird went in the Fauna Svecica, demonstrating the value of his new binomial nomenclature by compressing the long-winded names formerly used in biological classification into much simpler scientific names like Anas crecca. Linnaeus also noted in his description that earlier authors had already written about the Eurasan teal at length; Conrad Gessner had described it in the Historiae animalium as the anas parva ("small duck") among his querquedulae ("teals"); Ulisse Aldrovandi had called it phascade or querquedula minor ("lesser teal"), and was duly referenced by Francis Willughby, who named the species querquedula secunda Aldrovandi ("the second teal of Aldrovandi"). John Ray may be credited with formally introducing the name "common teal", while Eleazar Albin called it simply "the teal". As regards the type locality Linnaeus simply remarked that it inhabits freshwater ecosystems in Europe.
The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck", and kricka, the Swedish name for this species. The specific name of Linnaeus is thus onomatopoetic, the "duck that says cryc"; the common names in Norwegian krikkand, Danish krikand, and German Krickente mean the same, referring to the male's characteristic call which was already discussed by Linnaeus' sources.[citation needed]
The Eurasian teal is one of the smallest extant dabbling ducks at 34–43 cm (13–17 in) length and with an average weight of 360 g (13 oz) in drake (males) and 340 g (12 oz) in hens (females). The wings are 17.5–20.4 cm (6.9–8.0 in) long, yielding a wingspan of 53–59 cm (21–23 in). The bill measures 3.2–4 cm (1.3–1.6 in) in length, and the tarsus 2.8–3.4 cm (1.1–1.3 in).
From a distance, the drakes in breeding plumage appear grey, with a dark head, a yellowish behind, and a white stripe running along the flanks. Their head and upper neck is chestnut, with a wide and iridescent dark green patch of half-moon or teardrop-shape that starts immediately before the eye and arcs to the upper hindneck. The patch is bordered with thin yellowish-white lines, and a single line of that colour extends from the patch's forward end, curving along the base of the bill. The breast is buff with small round brown spots. The centre of the belly is white, and the rest of the body plumage is mostly white with thin and dense blackish vermiculations, appearing medium grey even at a short distance. The outer scapular feathers are white, with a black border to the outer vanes, and form the white side-stripe when the bird is in resting position. The primary remiges are dark greyish brown; the speculum feathers are iridescent blackish-green with white tips, and form the speculum together with the yellowish-white tips of the larger upperwing coverts (which are otherwise grey). The underwing is whitish, with grey remiges, dense dark spotting on the inner coverts and a dark leading edge. The tail and tail coverts are black, with a bright yellowish-buff triangular patch in the centre of the coverts at each side.
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Eurasian teal
The Eurasian teal (Anas crecca), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range. The bird gives its name to the blue-green colour teal.
It is a highly gregarious duck outside the breeding season and can form large flocks. It is commonly found in sheltered wetlands and feeds on seeds and aquatic invertebrates. The North American green-winged teal (A. carolinensis) was formerly (and sometimes is still) considered a subspecies of A. crecca.
The Eurasian teal belongs to the "true" teals, a group of small Anas dabbling ducks closely related to the mallard (A. platyrhynchos) and its relatives; that latter group in fact seems to have evolved from a true teal. It forms a superspecies with the green-winged teal and the speckled teal (A. flavirostris). A formerly proposed subspecies, A. c. nimia, from the Aleutian Islands, differs only in slightly larger size; it is no longer considered distinct.
Whether the Eurasian and green-winged teals are to be treated as one or two species is still being reviewed by the American Ornithologists' Union, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International now separate them. Despite the almost identical and highly apomorphic breeding plumage of their males, which continues to puzzle scientists, they are currently considered distinct species, as indicated by a wealth of behavioural, morphological, and molecular data.
The Eurasian teal was first scientifically named by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema naturae. His Latin description reads: [Anas] macula alarum viridi, linea alba supra infraque oculos – "a duck with green speculum, a white line above and below the eyes" – and his primary reference was the bird's description in his earlier work Fauna Svecica. The description he used in Systema Naturae was the name under which the bird went in the Fauna Svecica, demonstrating the value of his new binomial nomenclature by compressing the long-winded names formerly used in biological classification into much simpler scientific names like Anas crecca. Linnaeus also noted in his description that earlier authors had already written about the Eurasan teal at length; Conrad Gessner had described it in the Historiae animalium as the anas parva ("small duck") among his querquedulae ("teals"); Ulisse Aldrovandi had called it phascade or querquedula minor ("lesser teal"), and was duly referenced by Francis Willughby, who named the species querquedula secunda Aldrovandi ("the second teal of Aldrovandi"). John Ray may be credited with formally introducing the name "common teal", while Eleazar Albin called it simply "the teal". As regards the type locality Linnaeus simply remarked that it inhabits freshwater ecosystems in Europe.
The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck", and kricka, the Swedish name for this species. The specific name of Linnaeus is thus onomatopoetic, the "duck that says cryc"; the common names in Norwegian krikkand, Danish krikand, and German Krickente mean the same, referring to the male's characteristic call which was already discussed by Linnaeus' sources.[citation needed]
The Eurasian teal is one of the smallest extant dabbling ducks at 34–43 cm (13–17 in) length and with an average weight of 360 g (13 oz) in drake (males) and 340 g (12 oz) in hens (females). The wings are 17.5–20.4 cm (6.9–8.0 in) long, yielding a wingspan of 53–59 cm (21–23 in). The bill measures 3.2–4 cm (1.3–1.6 in) in length, and the tarsus 2.8–3.4 cm (1.1–1.3 in).
From a distance, the drakes in breeding plumage appear grey, with a dark head, a yellowish behind, and a white stripe running along the flanks. Their head and upper neck is chestnut, with a wide and iridescent dark green patch of half-moon or teardrop-shape that starts immediately before the eye and arcs to the upper hindneck. The patch is bordered with thin yellowish-white lines, and a single line of that colour extends from the patch's forward end, curving along the base of the bill. The breast is buff with small round brown spots. The centre of the belly is white, and the rest of the body plumage is mostly white with thin and dense blackish vermiculations, appearing medium grey even at a short distance. The outer scapular feathers are white, with a black border to the outer vanes, and form the white side-stripe when the bird is in resting position. The primary remiges are dark greyish brown; the speculum feathers are iridescent blackish-green with white tips, and form the speculum together with the yellowish-white tips of the larger upperwing coverts (which are otherwise grey). The underwing is whitish, with grey remiges, dense dark spotting on the inner coverts and a dark leading edge. The tail and tail coverts are black, with a bright yellowish-buff triangular patch in the centre of the coverts at each side.
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