Blue-winged Teal

While most of the waterfowl that occur in New Hampshire spend their winters in North America, the Blue-winged Teal we see in migration are just as likely to be going to or coming from South America, making it one of the farthest migrating ducks. The core of this species’ breeding range is the Great Plains, with smaller numbers nesting east across southern Canada and the northern tier of states. Breeding is rare in New Hampshire and hasn’t been reported since the 1980s, although the species was more common historically. One reason for this is that most of our wetlands are wooded to some degree, compared to wet meadows and Grasslands preferred by this species.

Instead, most of the Blue-winged Teal seen in the Granite State are migrants, and largely restricted to the river valleys and coastal area. Numbers are rarely large since the bulk of the species’ population breeds well to the west but be sure to scan flocks of other ducks in April and September for ones that are slightly smaller. In spring the males with their white facial crescent are distinctive, but late summer and early fall birds lack this feature and can easily be confused with female Mallards or the extremely similar Green-winged Teal, so brushing up on other field marks is important. The powder blue shoulder patches are only shared with the much different Northern Shoveler, making birds in flight far easier to identify.