The Blue-winged Teal is among the last waterfowl to arrive in Wisconsin in spring, making their way from as far south as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and coastal Peru. You can spot this bird’s dabbling blue-gray head—with a distinctive white crescent in front of the eye—in wetlands this time of year, having just recently arrived.
For such a small duck, just one-third the weight of a Mallard, the Blue-winged Teal makes a quick and decisive journey north in a few days. Their core breeding range is in the prairie pothole region of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Wisconsin is on the eastern side of its breeding range. Eastern Wisconsin, rich as it is with glaciated wetlands, can harbor large populations of teal.
Blue-winged Teal hatchlings in a nest (Madison Audubon photo).
Preferring open landscapes, the Blue-winged Teal shows low site fidelity year over year, meaning they rarely return to the same breeding grounds. Instead, the birds opportunistically investigate wetlands and grassland habitat, with preference for flooded areas with nearby prairie, pasture, or hay fields.
Faville Grove provides excellent habitat for Blue-winged Teal. During our 12-week summer internship, Blue-winged Teal nests are among the most frequently encountered, often indicated by a shriek (from a summer intern) and a flutter (from the teal, but sometimes the interns too).
This past week, flooded wetlands along the Crawfish River hosted lots of Blue-winged Teal. I was investigating a recent burn in a nearby prairie, but enjoyed hearing a number of quacking females and the “chux” notes of the males to a backdrop of chorus frogs and winnowing Wilson’s Snipe. I was distant from the teal, and concealed by large clumps of willows so I couldn’t disturb them, but all of a sudden a dozen birds kicked up, then half a dozen more. A great commotion was coming our way, and it seemed to be intensifying. I quickly realized it was white-tailed deer running through the flooded lowlands and relaxed, briefly. By this time the Teal were long gone, their powder blue shoulders and green secondaries waving goodbye. The deer crashed through the water faster, growing louder still, now sounding like invading cavalry. I think I said out loud, “oh no,” since it sounded like they would run into me any second, through the willows clumps where I was hidden. Finally things quieted down, and six deer appeared, wading through the water forty yards from me.
Now is a good time to scope out Blue-winged Teal on local wetlands. They are sensitive to disturbance and quick to flight, even due to twitchy deer, so careful observation is necessary. In another month or so, if you’re wandering through open prairies, you might run into a teal nest.
Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward
Cover image: A pair of Blue-winged Teal perch on a shallow grassy island in a lake. The male has a gray-blue head and white half-moon shape in front of the eye and the female is mottled cool brown (photo via Pixabay).
