A Rare Visitor to Middle Creek - Eurasian Green winged Teal

Stopped by for a quick look at the number of Snow Goose arrivals on the main lake..there are about 70,000 currently....and more on the way.

When leaving the area, I observed a local birder checking out the entrance road ponds and decided to stop and chat...about what was being seen in the area.

To my surprise, I was informed that he was looking a Eurasian Green Winged Teal...a new life bird for me. Needless to say, I was thrilled to observe this very rare species at one of my favorite birding location. You never know what will show up...as a birding mentor of mine always said: they have wings they can go (or fly) whenever they want.

Below are some of the differences between the two species, you can see the horizontal strip on the Eurasain Green Winged Teal and lack of vertical strip in the first photo a very definitive marking.

Until next time - good birding.

Eurasian Green Wing Teal  at Middle Creek                  

photo by D Williams

Major character 1: horizontal scapular stripe
Eurasian Green-winged Teal: Bold horizontal white stripe from shoulder back to tail. At rest, the scapulars cover the folded wing from above, while the gray feathers of the side of breast cover the wing from below. As a result, the wings of many ducks are not visible when at rest. The lower scapular feathers have a black outer web and a broad white inner web. It is this white inner web of the scapular feathers that produced the horizontal white stripe on the Eurasian Green-winged Teal. Sometimes the lower gray side feathers cover a portion of the white stripe. Usually, however, the stripe is very obvious, and the white is wider than the black.
American Green-winged Teal: The black outer web of the scapular feathers may be visible, but are usually not obvious. The inner webs are brownish gray and do not contrast boldly with the back. Thus, the American form never shows a white scapular stripe.


Major character 2: vertical white breast bar
American Green-winged Teal: Bold vertical white bar from shoulder downward across the side of the breast.
Eurasian Green-winged Teal: Absolutely no hint of a vertical white bar on the side of the breast.