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Discover Nature: Blue-Winged Teal Return

Missouri Department of Conservation

Discover Nature this week as a swift-flying, migratory duck begins returning to Missouri from the north.

The blue-winged teal (Anas discors) breeds across North America, spending its summers as far north as Alaska.  These ducks leave their summer homes early to overwinter along the Gulf of Mexico, or as far south as Peru, Brazil, and Argentina.

Adult males – or drakes – are small, each with a dark gray head and a white crescent between the eye and bill.  A light blue patch adorns the fore-wing just above a greenish patch called a speculum, below.

The female – or hen – is brown with a dark eye line, and a whitish spot between the bill and the eye.  Hens also sport blue wing patches, but have a gray-brown patch, instead of green, comprising the speculum, below.

Find blue-winged teal foraging on aquatic vegetation such as sedges, seeds and small invertebrates in shallow water; they rarely dive underwater.

Teal generally stay in Missouri only briefly, so the best time to find them usually occurs when cold fronts bring winds favorable for migration.

Learn more about the blue-winged teal, how to identify waterfowl in Missouri, and find a good place near you to see these birds in the wild with the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

Trevor serves as KBIA’s weekday morning host for classical music. He has been involved with local radio since 1990, when he began volunteering as a music and news programmer at KOPN, Columbia's community radio station. Before joining KBIA, Trevor studied social work at Mizzou and earned a masters degree in geography at the University of Alabama. He has worked in community development and in urban and bicycle/pedestrian planning, and recently served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia with his wife, Lisa Groshong. An avid bicycle commuter and jazz fan, Trevor has cycled as far as Colorado and pawed through record bins in three continents.
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