The Green-winged Teal is North America’s smallest dabbling duck and one of Arizona’s most abundant wintering waterfowl. Adults arrive as early as late September and remain through March, congregating in shallow marshes, irrigation canals, rice fields and river backwaters—particularly along the Lower Colorado River, Bill Williams Delta, Cienega Creek and urban ponds. Their diet consists mainly of aquatic seeds (e.g., pondweed, sedges) supplemented by small mollusks and insects, which they “dabble” from the water’s surface. The drake is unmistakable with its chestnut head, iridescent green eye-patch and narrow white flank stripe; females are mottled brown with a hint of green on the speculum. Though primarily a migrant and winter visitor, a handful of summer records from high-elevation marshes on the Mogollon Rim suggest occasional breeding in Arizona. Their large winter flocks underscore the importance of the state’s wetlands for conserving migratory waterfowl.
