Green winged teal

[Connor7]

Hello
Im certain this is a green winged teal yet I couldnt find it in any of my books but after doing some research it says they are very rare and out of the ordinary, have i got a rare bird?



I also saw some with blue patches but the picture quality wasnt very good, I know theres blue winged teals but they look very different

Thanks for reading
Connor

[nakedgardener]

They are Common teal, not particularly rare, but lovely birds!

[Connor7]

Tut
How do i tell the difference between green winged teals and common teals because they look so similar!
I found a picture of a green winged teal, http://thai.wunderground.com/data/wx...nchyjen/43.jpg
And they look the almost identical!
Thanks for replys

[nakedgardener]

Green winged are the American version, which look simular, but have a vertical white line on the breast, and less of a gold line on the face!

[Connor7]

Thanks
One day ill get one

[jaykay]

hard luck Connor, but at least you're learning and asking questions, I've still got plenty to learn as well

[davidbr]

The best way to learn the ID of common (and rarer) wildfowl is to visit one of the WWT centres - that's how I did it, you can study the birds at your leisure and in a range of plumages, and you'll find the features stick in your mind far, far easier than from looking at a million pictures in books

[Pam_M]

A lovely photo of your Common Teal, Connor! Not a rare one but still a lovely one to see anytime! You are doing well with your photography! David is so right in saying visiting a WWT reserve will help with ID's of Wildfowl and many other bird species of course! I found that listening and talking to birdwatchers in hides etc helped me to gain knowledge in bird ID's! Of course you have to decide if the person by you wishes to talk or not! Generally I have found most wish to share their knowledge! Good luck with your birding and photography, you are doing well! Jaykay has it spot on.."at least you're learning and asking questions"! Books and the Internet are a valuable source of information too, along with your pics!

Enjoy your birding, Connor!

[Ruth Daniel]

A super image of your Common Teal Connor!
Pam's right,I do a lot of earwigging in bird hides and it's amazing what you can learn!
You're doing the right thing in asking as so many folk are afraid to in case they sound daft,well done......you'll get there.

[SheffieldPete]

As others have said, I'm afraid not! Don't be fooled by the name - common teals also have green wings (maybe green-winged teals should be renamed every so slightly greener-winged teals...).

As has been said the clincher is the vertical rather than horizontal white stripe on the drakes. There is less gold "trim" on the eye stripe, but you need very very good views to make this out Females are completely indistinguishable (and don't believe anyone that says otherwise!).

GWTs were believed until very recently to be a subspecies of common teal, that is merely the American form of the same species. They were "split" due to DNA analysis, but if we follow recent American decisions they may be "lumped" back into the same species before too long (and I lose one tick off my lifelist )