Eurasian Teal

• GeneralThe smallest dabbling duck in Europe; it takes off vertically from the water.
• It is the smallest dabbling duck in its range, at about 342 g average weight against the 843 of the mallard.
• Its culmen measures about 35 mm, the shortest of all the European dabbling ducks studied.
• Across much of its range it is the only small duck of this kind, which is why it is called simply "teal" with nothing added.
• It is the smallest dabbling duck in Europe: about 35 cm and barely 300 grams.
• It gives its name to a colour. Teal, the greenish blue, comes from the English name of this species, after the iridescent band the drake bears on each side of his head.
• It takes off almost vertically, with no need for a run across the water — something diving ducks cannot do. That lets it use tiny pools.
• Outside the breeding season it is extremely gregarious and forms tight flocks that wheel in unison in flight.
• The American Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, was long considered a subspecies of it, and some sources still treat it that way.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Saltmarsh, shallow lagoons and rice fields

Sexual maturity

5.9 months

Gestation / incubation

22 days

Litter / clutch size

10

Sources consulted: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (datos morfométricos de anátidas europeas, material suplementario); IUCN Red List; Wikipedia; Boie 1822; Linnaeus 1758

Best time: Winter, when the northern contingents arrive at the Spanish wetlands