Anas cyanoptera
The male cinnamon teal gives a thin whistled “peep” or “peer.” Female cinnamon teal have a somewhat more guttural quacking than female blue-winged teal.
Appearance
- Small dabbling duck.
- Male has a cinnamon-red head and body with a brown back, a red eye and a dark bill.
- The female has a mottled brown body, a pale brown head, brown eyes and a grey bill and is very similar in appearance to a female blue-winged teal; however its overall color is richer and its bill is longer.
- Young male resembles a female or a blue-winged teal, but eyes are red.
Breeding
- Cinnamon teal generally select new mates each year.
- They are known to interbreed with blue-winged teals.
- Nests are often located in grassy areas and island nesting is common.
- Female cinnamon teal lay an average of eight to 10 eggs.
Habitat: Marshes and ponds for breeding. They prefer small, shallow alkaline wetlands surrounded by low herbaceous cover.
Range: Breeding in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada. Most winter in northern South America and the Caribbean, generally not migrating as far as the blue-winged teal. Some winter in California and southwestern Arizona.
Diet: Cinnamon teal mainly eat plants. Their diet also includes mollusks and aquatic insects.