Comparable in size to a Bufflhead or Ruddy Duck, this is the smallest North American dabbling duck. It is fairly compact with a small head and a small bill. The North American and Eurasian forms are nearly identical, with only the definitive basic plumage males being readily separable in the field.

American Male (A. c. carolinensis): Chestnut head with a broad iridescent green crescent-shaped stripe behind the eye. This green stripe may be faintly outlined in buff. Breast is buffy with black spots. Sides and back are pale gray. A vertical white line on the upper flanks extends down from the front edge of the folded wing. A buffy yellow lower flank patch is bordered below by a black undertail and in front by a somewhat vertical black stripe that separates the yellow patch from the gray flanks. During Summer and well into Fall adult males assume a cryptic female-like appearance, with many males arriving on the wintering grounds still in transitional plumages. The full transition to definitive basic plumage is often not completed until mid-December.

Eurasian Male (A. c. crecca): Has a horizontal white line along each side of the back, instead of the vertical white line on the upper flanks shown by the American race. Intergrades may have both white lines. Eurasian male has bolder buffy lines on the face and shows a thin pale creamy white area in front of the black frame around the creamy yellow lower flank patch. Some American Males can also have a thin pale line in the same area. Eurasian duck populations typically molt later than their North American counterparts, often not commencing their prebasic molt until reaching their wintering grounds. This may explain why Eurasians are rarely detected in the U.S. before December. A third subspecies (A. c. nimia) resides in the Aleutian Islands. It is distinctly larger than the other two forms, but otherwise resembles the Eurasian population.

American and Eurasian Females: Warm brown overall, with a small iridescent green patch usually visible in the folded wing. Females also show a creamy yellow to whitish area on the lower flanks, but it is more constrained (more of a stripe than a patch). The undertail is mottled brown and buff. Female Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal are both larger, and longer-billed and will not show an exposed speculum patch in the folded wing. Female Eurasian Green-wings usually show a more conspicuous white bar on the lead edge of the speculum, but are otherwise nearly identical to females of the North American population.

Length: 30 (cm) Wingspan: 51 (cm)

Voice:

Male gives a sharp whistled call; female a gentle quack.

Habitat:

Shallow ponds, wetlands, and coastal marshes.

Behavior:

Extremely fast fliers. Tight, fast moving flocks can be mistaken for shorebirds at a distance.

Feeding:

Takes a wide variety of aquatic plants and animals from the water’s surface and from mudflats. Occasionally feeds on grain in fields.