Characteristics
 The adult male green-winged teal has a cinnamon colored head with a green patch around and behind his eyes that is bordered underneath with a fine white line. Its upper body is gray and its chest is a creamy-white speckled with brown. It has a white stripe down its side between its chest and its wings. The green-winged teal gets its name from the green patch on its wings. It has a black bill and black legs and feet. The female green-winged teal has a light brown head and neck and a whitish throat. Her upperside is a dark brown and her underside is white. She also has a green patch on her inner wings. It is a little brighter than the male's patch.
Range
 The green-winged teal breeds from northern Alaska, Manitoba and Quebec south to California, Colorado, Nebraska and New York. It winters in the southern states and along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
Habitat
The green-winged teal can be found in marshes, ponds and marshy lakes.
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Diet
 The green-winged teal eats the seeds of pondweeds, bulrushes, sedges, grasses, grain and berries. It pokes its head down in the water to sift food from the mud, and it pulls grasses and weeds up from the water's edge. It often travels a good distance from water to find food. Young teals also eat insects.
Life Cycle
 The green-winged teal breeds from late April to early June. The female lays six to ten eggs. She lays only one egg a day. The nest is made in long grass near the water in a depression in the ground.
The nest is lined with grasses, leaves, weeds and down. The female often covers the eggs with down to keep them warm when she leaves the nest. Only the female incubates the eggs. The chicks hatch in about 21-23 days. The male leaves the female soon after incubation. The female leads the chicks down to the water when they are a day old. The chicks fledge when they are about a month old. Females are very aggressive in defending their chicks. Female green-winged teals often work together to protect broods from predators like skunks and crows.
Behavior
 The green-winged teal is an early migrant. They migrate in large flocks and often fly low over water, wheeling and turning together. Males migrate first. Green-winged teals migrate both during the day and at night. |
