Bird Database

Green-winged Teal

(Anas crecca)

State of the Birds
At a Glance

Habitat

Migration

Short distance

Population

Stable

Threats

Wetland loss

Conservation Actions

Manage waterfowl harvest, Wetland protection

Green-winged Teal

(Anas crecca)

The Green-winged Teal is the smallest duck that occurs in NH, which can be an important field mark when females and non-breeding males occur in the company of other species (they’re close to half the size of a Mallard). Only the Blue-winged Teal might pose an identification challenge, but is a little larger, has a larger bill, and lacks a buffy streak below the tail. In flight both show a green speculum, but the Blue-winged also has the powder blue shoulders for which it is named.

Green-winged Teal are also more common than Blue-winged, and during migration are the most numerous dabbling duck in the state after Mallard and American Black Duck. One reason this species is encountered more frequently than many other migrant ducks is that its breeding range extends much farther east. Rather than being centered on the Great Plains, the Green-winged Teal nests primarily in wooded wetlands across the boreal region of Alaska and Canada. Here in the Northeast, that range extends south into the border states, although the species is very rare and local in New Hampshire and restricted to areas north of the White Mountains.

Perhaps because most of the population nests north of the heavily agricultural Great Plains, Green-winged Teal face fewer risks associated with habitat loss and drought. Populations are generally increasing or stable, including those in Maine and eastern Canada that are the sources of the birds that migrate through New Hampshire.

Seasonal Abundance

Relative abundance based on eBird data. Numbers indicate likelihood of finding this species in suitable habitat at a given time of year, not actual numbers encountered.

Green-winged Teal
Range Map

Information for the species profiles on this website was compiled from a combination of the sources listed below.

  • The Birds of New Hampshire. By Allan R. Keith and Robert B. Fox. 2013. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological club No. 19.

  • Atlas of the Breeding Birds of New Hampshire. Carol R. Foss, ed. 1994. Arcadia Publishing Company and Audubon Society of New Hampshire

  • Birds of the World. Various authors and dates. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

  • Data from the Breeding Bird Survey

  • Data from the Christmas Bird Count