23 December 2015. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. These are record-breaking warm temperature days. Daytime highs are around 12 Celsius, I see lawns greening up, daffodils emerging, even a dandelion in flower today; but almost no birds. I speculate that it’s because there is so much openly available natural food, food that normally might inaccessible under ice or snow, there is no pressure on either local or more northern birds to seek the relatively easy pickings of these urban areas.
I walked around my census route with my daughter’s dog (on a leash – difficult at times) as company. The species count was low but not without its high points. Bird of the Day was a male Green-winged Teal muddling about in a narrow creek with some Mallards. That in itself was a bit unusual; at this time of year I usually see teal in groups and in more open waters. I’ve never really been satisfied with my necessarily long-shot photos. Today’s duck though was close enough to examine, and he’s truly gorgeous. Like many related species, the fine grey barring on its flanks and neck serve to emphasize all the handsome bits, like the chestnut and green head, the pure iridescent-green wing flash and the cream tail. He is still wearing a few fluffy cream/brown feathers on his flanks, left over, I suspect, from his pre-adult browns.
It’s hard to get a sense of his size, but as I’ve noted before, and quoting from a post a month ago. “ Although not apparent from my photos, Green-winged Teals are quite small ducks, when seen mingling with Mallards they appear to be half the size. Indeed according to the Sibley Guide to the Birds, a Mallard weighs in at around 1100 grams and a Green-winged Teal at 350 grams, a third of the weight.”
These photos happily support this Green-winged Teal as Bird of the Day.