A Blue-winged Teal and his reflection.
Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island, FL
February 10, 2025
Blue-winged Teal and Reflection
Tag Archives: Blue-winged Teal
Blue-winged Teals
Despite the green patch seen in the middle duck here, these are Blue-winged Teals.
A slight shift of the wing and you can see just the powder blue patch, and the more distinctive white patch on the male’s head.
This trio had all been either feeding or bathing.
A good shake put the feathers to rights.
Orlando Wetlands, Christmas, FL
January 18, 2023
Orlando Wetlands Park is 1650 acres of man-made wetland designed to provide advanced treatment for reclaimed water from the City of Orlando and other local cities.
Blue-winged Teal
I haven’t seen many ducks yet this winter. This lone Blue-winged Teal was paddling around in the duck weed in a small pond near the swamp.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
January 9, 2023
Blue-winged Teal in Flight
Blue-winged Teal were among the ducks sheltering in the old rice field ponds on Cat Island.
A number of patrolling Bald Eagles sent groups of ducks into the air over the hour or so we were in the area.
Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, SC
November 22, 2022
Ducks in the Marsh Scene
A few Blue-winged Teal were cruising close to my position on a marsh dike.
IÂ had hoped to inch a bit closer and a better angle.
The possible reason for their sudden departure:
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
October 29, 2021
Blue-winged Teals, Alert, Alert
I mentioned in my recent post Eagle: Fish for Dinner, that a pair of Bald Eagles has taken up a new flight pattern over the rookery pond.
This causes the ducks all sorts of consternation and on this afternoon they alerted me to the Eagle’s presence.
I only know that these are Blue-winged Teals because I saw them before they took off.
The Eagle that I saw was long gone by the time this flock got into the air, possibly already having snagged his dinner at a different pond.
As a safety measure the ducks circled the pond three or four times before landing again on the far side.
January 14, 2021
Blue-winged Teal Vacuums
Blue-winged Teals often eat in circles, almost like a choreographed dance of vacuum cleaners. There was plenty of duckweed to go around on this day and the wind was keeping it concentrated in one side of the pond, keeping the ducks near the walking path.
The duck’s movements leaves trails in the duckweed, indistinguishable from a path made by an underwater Alligator.
These three female Teals stayed in a row for quite awhile, perhaps because there is safety in numbers.
When the light hits them just right the iridescence on the males’ heads is quite pretty.
Blue-winged Teal
Coming straight at me, this trio of Blue-winged Teals looked like they were on a mission.
Of course they turned, providing a more classic view, which was quickly followed by a view of their tail ends.
In Flight
Ducks have been showing up around the various ponds I frequent and I was hoping for some decent in-flight views. The ducks had other ideas this day and kept their flight patterns close to the marsh grass.
A Great Blue Heron was a little more obliging as he winged past me.
Blue-winged Teals Over the Marsh
Last Saturday was a spectacular bird day at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area and these Blue-winged Teals were one of the many groups of birds I saw. The water had been lowered in some of the back ponds which attracts the wading birds, shore birds and migrating ducks.
The reeds at the edge of the canals are above my head in most places so I did not have a clear view of the teals until they took off.
