H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

Cinnamon Teal – Spec. Name: Anas Cyanoptera

This is a small, reddish dabbling duck found in marshes and ponds of western North and South America.

Cinnamon Teal (M)

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 lore spot, 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. They are 16 inches long, have a 22-inch wingspan, and weigh 14 ounces. They have 2 adult molts per year and a third molt in their first year.

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. Cinnamon Teal generally select new mates each year. They are migratory and most winter in northern South America and the Caribbean, generally not migrating as far as the Blue-winged Teal. Some winter in California and southwestern Arizona. They are known to interbreed with Blue-winged Teals. These birds feed by dabbling. They mainly eat plants; their diet may include mollusks and aquatic insects.

Cinnamon teal are commonly sighted in the Midwest and eastern United States, and are often associated with a flock of blue-winged teal, most likely attaching themselves to the flock on their mutual breeding grounds. Cinnamon teal are common winter visitors to Central America.

Photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – “My Backyard Visitors”

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