The Cinnamon Teal is a small, compact dabbling duck distinguished by the male’s rich cinnamon-red body, slate-blue bill, and bright yellow eyes, while females and immatures are mottled brown with an orange-tinted speculum. In Arizona, Cinnamon Teals are common spring and fall migrants, arriving as early as late February and persisting through April, then again from late September into November. They frequent shallow marshes, flooded agricultural fields, irrigation canals, and desert stock ponds—especially in the Lower Colorado River Valley, the Salt River basin, and the Sulphur Springs Valley. Though primarily migratory here, a few pairs occasionally nest in the cattail–bulrush stands of southeastern Arizona’s riparian corridors; confirmed breeding sites include the San Rafael and San Pedro rivers. Cinnamon Teals forage by tipping forward in water up to 10 cm deep, consuming seeds, aquatic invertebrates, and algae, and often feed in mixed flocks with Northern Shovelers and Blue-winged Teal.
