The Green-winged Teal is the smallest dabbling duck in North America, a compact, fast-flying bird that twists through the air in tight, wheeling flocks like shorebirds. The drake is beautifully marked at close range — a gray body with a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green swoosh sweeping back from the eye, and a distinctive vertical white bar down the side of the chest. The hen is a small, dark, finely mottled brown. Both sexes flash a bright green wing patch (the speculum) in flight.
Green-winged Teal favor shallow water, mudflats, and flooded fields, where they dabble and sift the muck for tiny seeds and invertebrates. They are hardy little ducks, among the last to move south in fall and among the first back in spring, and they pass through Michigan in good numbers on migration. A small number breed in the state's marshes, and a few linger into winter wherever shallow water stays open.
A dabbling duck that filters small seeds, aquatic plant matter, and tiny invertebrates from shallow water and soft mud, often feeding on exposed mudflats. Its fine bill lets it strain very small food items, and animal prey becomes more important for breeding females.
Look for a very small duck with a gray body, a chestnut head marked by a green swoosh behind the eye, and a vertical white bar on the side of the chest. In flight both sexes flash a green wing patch.
The Green-winged Teal is smaller and shows a green (not blue) wing patch and a vertical white chest bar, and the drake has a chestnut-and-green head. The Blue-winged Teal drake has a white facial crescent and a pale blue forewing.
Mostly as a migrant in spring and fall, when flocks gather on shallow wetlands and mudflats. Small numbers breed in the state and a few overwinter where shallow water remains open.
Eclipse males drop the chestnut head and green face stripe for a female-like brown plumage from about July into October. The bright green wing patch remains the constant field mark.
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