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Cinnamon teal

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Cinnamon teal
Spatula cyanoptera (male)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Spatula
Species:
S. cyanoptera
Binomial name
Spatula cyanoptera
(Vieillot, 1816)
Subspecies

4 living, 1 possibly extinct; see text

  Breeding
  Migration
  Year-round
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Anas cyanoptera Vieillot, 1816

The cinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera) is a species of duck found in western North and South America. It is a small dabbling duck, with bright reddish plumage on the male and duller brown plumage on the female. It lives in marshes and ponds, and feeds mostly on plants.

Description

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Female Spatula cyanoptera septentrionalium
Male (left) and female

The adult male has a cinnamon-red head and body with a brown back, a red eye and a dark bill. The adult 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, the lores, eye line, and eye ring are less distinct. Its bill is longer and more spatulate. Male juvenile resembles a female cinnamon or blue-winged teal but their eyes are red.[2][3] They are 16 in (41 cm) long, have a 22-inch (560 mm) wingspan, and weigh 14 oz (400 g).[3] They have 2 adult molts per year and a third molt in their first year.[3]

Distribution

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Their breeding habitat is marshes and ponds in western United States and extreme southwestern Canada, and are rare visitors to the east coast of the United States.[3] One young male duck was spotted in Grimsby, Ontario, and became a tourist attraction due to its rarity outside of western Canada.[4] Cinnamon teal generally select new mates each year. They are migratory and most winter in northern South America and the Caribbean,[5] generally not migrating as far as the blue-winged teal. Some winter in California and southwestern Arizona.[2] Two subspecies of cinnamon teal reside within the Andes of South America. The smaller sized S. c. cyanoptera is widespread within low elevations (<1000m) such as the coast of Peru and southern Argentina, whereas the larger size subspecies S. c. orinomus occupies elevations of 3500–4600 meters in the central Andes.[6]

Behavior

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Male

These birds feed by dabbling. They mainly eat plants; their diet may include molluscs and aquatic insects.

Taxonomy

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They are known to interbreed with blue-winged teals,[2] which are very close relatives.

Subspecies are:

References

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  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Spatula cyanoptera". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22680233A92851668. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680233A92851668.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Dunn, J (2006)
  3. ^ a b c d Floyd T (2008)
  4. ^ Chandler, Justin. "Wayward duck in Niagara draws mad rush of birders looking to photograph the 'mega-rarity'". CBC News. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  5. ^ Herrera et al. (2006)
  6. ^ Wilson, Robert E.; Peters, Jeffrey L.; McCracken, Kevin G. (2012-08-10). "Genetic and Phenotypic Divergence Between Low- and High-Altitude Populations of Two Recently Diverged Cinnamon Teal Subspecies". Evolution. 67 (1): 170–184. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01740.x. ISSN 0014-3820. PMID 23289570. S2CID 8378355.
  7. ^ a b c d e Clements, J (2007)

Works cited

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  • Clements, James, (2007) The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World, Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Dunn, J. & Alderfer, J. (2006) National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America 5th Ed.
  • Floyd, T (2008) Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America HarperCollins, NY
  • Herrera, Néstor; Rivera, Roberto; Ibarra Portillo, Ricardo & Rodríguez, Wilfredo (2006): Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador. ["New records for the avifauna of El Salvador"]. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16(2): 1–19. [Spanish with English abstract]PDF fulltext
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